Lunch over, most people decided to walk down to the Visitor centre and have a coffee but having just walked up that hill, I was in no hurry to go back down it so I set my sights on a trip up Cradle. The weather seemed to be clearing, and sthughes looked at his phone and said that the rain had gone so I set off in hope - in the rain again, but it passed and the clouds started lifting. By the time I reached the top of Marigold Valley, Barn Bluff was poking its head out of the clouds, and Cradle was clear. By Kitchen Hut, Barn Bluff had retreated behind the fog again, and the clouds were building up. With many prayers to Huey to just hold the clouds back long enough for me to get to the summit, I set off as fast as I could up the rather a lot steeper than I remembered climb. Going through the saddle 10 min from the top I was rewarded with lovely views behind Cradle, but still entreating Huey I pushed on towards the summit which was clear when I reached it.
Down below, however, was dense cloud which raced up the cliff as I watched, to hide the view and start weaving itself around the rocks. I moved away to have a brief rest looking at the view over the back but soon decided that discretion was the better part of valour and started my retreat before the mist became thick fog. I arrived back at the Hut at the same time as the coffee drinkers.Although corvus had fired up the Barby, the group had other ideas with various drinks and nibblies being brought out and people settling in for some serious relaxing. At this point seakar, strewth and a friend turned up, (apparently after following a long route from the Tamar Valley which included the Hellyer Gorge), and added to the alcohol and snacks and general frivolity. Eventually we had our BBQ and the evening continued with much talk, laughter and song. The singing may have gone better if anyone could have remembered the words to any of the songs so it was suggested by a few that we take songbooks next time. There were some good singers among the group who made up for the rest of us.
The night was fairly uneventful other than someone falling out of bed which he obviously found very entertaining, and most of us were not up very early in the morning other than Dafna who left to go on the Overland Track.
After packing up and cleaning the hut, seakar, strewth, strewth's friend and I decided to go the long way back to the carpark and had a pleasant day in clear weather going up the Horse Track, along the Face Track, down past Lake Wilks and along the Dove Lake Circuit track. Arriving back at the carpark we decided to have a coffee before we went home so went to Cradle Mountain Lodge where the coffee progressed to dinner which was a perfect way to end the weekend.
Thanks to everyone who went for making it a great weekend.
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