The Grimcrag Mule Train

The wagon road out of Stonebridge Village follows the river north into the foothills and gives up where the ground starts to break into ravines. From there the only way on is the narrow trail up Grimcrag Valley, and the only thing that climbs it loaded is the Grimcrag Mule Train. Twenty sure-footed mules walk nose to tail, each carrying two baskets: cloth, iron nails, salt and lamp oil going up, wool, goat cheese and hides coming down.

It is a long day's climb from the end of the wagon road to Oakdrum, and the muleteers sing to keep the line moving. A traveller pays the head muleteer to walk with the train and have one bag carried, and she sets the price by the size of the bag and how much she likes the look of its owner. Walking is the only option, because no mule will carry a rider on that trail. The trail ends at the stone huts and goat folds of Oakdrum, where the satyrs come down from the Drum Ring to haggle over every basket.