I stepped out of the Crown & Mitre at 9:50am, a
late start but I had to catch up with my blog before I left. The “one for the
road” in Patterdale had slowed my progress not only in walking.
The air was fresh and the breeze chilled my
sunburned neck. I took off my shirt and put the base layer singlet on that I
keep in my backpack then my shirt over the top. Sleeves down buttoned to the
top with lifted collar I walked off looking like a prat.
The best part about making yesterday’s deviation to
Bampton Grange is that today’s walk out of the village is enjoyable after being
well rested and on fresh legs.
I head off down the village lanes, passing a farmer
walking with a staff crook, his two black labradors by his side. He gives me a
warm welcome and asks of my accent, pleased I have come this far to walk around
his farm, and he wishes me luck and a good day.
I am in the countryside I love the best, meadows
and cows. The big fat girls with their big brown eyes under long lashes, and
the smell, damp hay mixed with cow manure, it rises off the fields and fills
the humid air, lovely.
Some fields are filled with sheep, Herdwick to be
precise, and maybe the last I will see, as they are native to the Lakes
District, which is now behind me.
Herdwick lambs are born black, as they become
juvenile they go brown, and then they grey, before turning white on maturity.
It is a pity humans do not do the same, I am sure we would be more accepting of
others if we did.
Past the sheep folds the trail leaves the lane at
Rosgil Bridge and heads up along side the River Lowther all the way to Shap
Abbey.
Just before the Abbey on the side of the trail was
a huge esky, filled with beer, cool drinks and packets of potato chips and an
honor box. Specifically for Coast-to-Coast walkers. None for me thanks, I press
on.
Shap Abbey was the last abbey to be founded in
England back in 1199. Dissolved in 1540
by Henry VIII and plundered up until the 1700’s for its masonry, which was used
to build Shap Market Hall and in the building of Lowther Castle.
Today the western bell tower, the best-preserved
section of the abbey, defiantly rises from the ruins.
Leaving the Abbey it is again along lane and fields
for an hour or so before reaching the sizable town of Shap.
Up the main street I stopped at the Abbey Coffee
Shop enjoying a vanilla slice and a pot of tea complete with bumblebee cozy. On
leaving I select two more cakes for the road.
Turning out of the village of Shap at the Kings
Arms I caught sight of the cement works as I headed over the railway line and
across fields and farms.
After so much remote country in the last week I was
considering that “industrial man” no longer existed and if the sight of the cement
works and railway hadn’t reminded me, the sight and noise of the M6 motorway surely
did. This was a confronting man-made scar on an otherwise beautiful landscape. Like
two bituminous vipers slithering menacingly, side-by-side, one heading south
the other north.
The sooner this noisy, smelly monstrosity was
crossed the better.
However, in spite of the M6’s offensive presence it
does mark approximately one third of the country crossed. So there was a little
internal celebration as I crossed the pedestrian overpass, I will celebrate
properly tonight with a pint or two.
From here I changed direction from due east to more
east-southeast, avoiding the larger villages to the north heading into the Eden
Valley, staying on the open ground of this limestone plateau over Crosby
Ravensworth Fell and Orton Scar down to the village of Orton.
Firstly, though, I needed to pass another man made
blight on the landscape the limestone quarry on Hardendale Nab before I reached
the hamlet of Oddendale.
It is obvious by the quarry that the landscape has
changed considerably from the granite-strewn Lakes District. The ground
underfoot is a softer crushed limestone covered in turf and the open ground
offers a glimpse into prehistoric times with many stone circles and tumuli, definition: A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones
raised over a grave or graves, indicating
that large communities existed here long before the dawn of history.
Travelling further south I passed a bloody huge boulder before crossing Crosby Ravensworth Fell with it’s remnants of Roman roads, further on I passed Robin Hood’s Grave, which is just an unimpressive rocky cairn, and then the spot where King Charles III regaled his army and drank of the water on his march from Scotland on August 8 1651.
Just think, prehistoric man, Romans, Robin
Hood, a King and his army and now me with my GPS and all.
I crossed Orton Scar and past the farms of Broadfells, Scarside and Friar Biggins, sounds like I am in Middle Earth, I will keep an eye out for Gollum.
Finally, passing abandoned limekilns
and more of those stone circles before reaching the village of Orton with its
concrete bus stop dedicated to the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 and the
more impressive George Hotel where I will dine later this evening.
Finally just over 5 hours later, Barn
House, my bed and breakfast, on the south end of the village.
A very easy days walk.
Daily Stats.
Distance 20.1km
Assent 555m
Descent 518m
Time out 5h
5m
Stopped 0h
41m
Moving average 4.7km
per hour
Weather 7 to 14, overcast no sun no rain.
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