The Mountain Glide

Jennospot 91 The Mountain Glide

 

Yew wouldn't fink it, if'n yew were ter come all casual loike ter Widdlin'ton, that the whole village (that is ter say all the kids) are dead keen on soapbox racin'. Widdlin'ton is in a valley, see, wiv the river runnin' along the bottom, so on either soide there are slopes wot are pretty 'andy fer ridin' down in soapboxes.

 

Any'ow, up on the east side, where the slope is steepest there are several old quarries, an' the one just above Lions Avenue where Peter lives is the biggest. They used ter get gravel out of it, but it ain't been worked fer quite a while now, not since Oi c'n remember any'ow. Down the soide of this 'ere quarry there's a steep slope wot we call the Mountain Glide. An' when Oi say steep, Oi mean it's real steep. When yew stan' at the top lookin' down, yew c'n get giddy real easy if'n yew ain't used ter it.

 

It's so steep that when yew ride down, yew 'ave do it zigzaggin' loike ovverwise yew'll go so fast yer eyes'll start a-waterin' an' yer wheels'll likely fall off. Any'ow, yew can't really go straight down 'cos there's prickly stuff, loike bramble bushes an' gorse, wot grows in clumps 'ere an' there. So yew 'ave ter zigzag ter go around 'em.

 

There's anuvver zigzag place wot we call The Zigzag wiv a capital Z, It's a path at the side of the quarry where lorries used ter go up an' down. But Oi don't reckon as 'ow no lorries c'd go there no more, 'cos parts of the path 'ave been washed away by the rain. It's okay fer racin' down though, 'cos we've done some repairs ter the worst bits. It makes an int'restin' change from racin' down the glide, 'cos it's a bit narrer in parts, as well as 'avin' ter go a bit careful over the roughest bits. That aside, it ain't bad fer learners neither.

 

We go racin' often an' there's a whole lot about our soapbox cart racin' in Peter St John's "Gang" books. Oi got a racin' cart wot's called Emmeline P, an' Oi've raced 'er a few toimes down the Mountain Glide, an' down the Zigzag. So if'n yew like excitin' racin' stories yew c'd do worse 'n take a look at http://www.peterstjohn.net/index_12.htm an' go exploring from there. There's some pictures an' all. There's even one of me…

 

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