Yesterday, under glorious azure skies and temperatures that might persuade us the Indian Summer had returned, we travelled to the South Wales valleys to climb a mountain above the former great steel town of Ebbw Vale. A nasty, steep little pitch of nearly 300 metres got us up to the trig point at 551 metres, affording impressive views of the area where, a generation ago, thousand upon thousand of Welshmen mined coal and turned iron ore into steel. Today all is quiet, in a setting that is almost a rural idyll.
This time of year is perfect to find magic mushrooms, "psylocibe semilanceata", also known as liberty cap mushrooms, or "laughing mushrooms", to use the term of my mother's Derbyshire childhood. Each one contains a small amount of the potent psycho-active alkaloid psylocibin. Eaten fresh, about 10 will produce a potent hallucinogenic experience which lasts for about 6 hours, before fading and leaving no after-effects. When dried in the sun, in which condition they remain active for years, about 30 will be needed to produce the same effect.
They are free, and until recently, legal, until the alcohol lobby, concerned that their profits might be eroded to even the tiniest degree, were able to influence parliament to proscribe it. Magic mushrooms offer a less intense trip than LSD, and a completely safe transcendental experience for those with the pluck to give it a try. Although taking too many would not necessarily produce a very pleasant expereince, it is impossible to overdose on them, and no one has ever died as a result of their use. Which I think is a little more than you can say about alcohol...
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