For newcomers

At the bottom of each post there is the word "comments". If you click on it you will see comments made by followers, and if you follow the instructions you may also comment and I always welcome that. I have found many people overlook this part of the blog which is often more interesting than the original post!

My blog nick-name is SIR HUGH. I'm not from the aristocracy - my middle name is Hugh which relates to the list of 282 hills in Scotland compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. I climbed my last one (Sgurr Mor) on 28th June 2009

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Monday 26 November 2018

Longridge to Arnside (2)

Sunday 25th November 2018 - Bleasdale to Arbour

On Day Two of our straight-line route from Bowland Climber's house to mine we were joined by friend J. We rendezvoused at Grizedale View Reservoir, our eventual finishing point. As we drove back to Bleasdale for the start my two friends told me about a rhinoceros that had escaped from some location in Garstang only a few miles away. I think we were all three a bit nervous during the whole of this trip having convinced ourselves that we were walking through terrain that would be favoured by Rhinos.

We had not gone far before we were confronted by a large bull. It was on the other side of a wall through a gate and we confidently took photos, but then as we passed through the gate we saw we were no longer protected by the wall and the bull had a small harem of cows. Whether he had already encountered the Rhino and seen it off we were not sure, but just hoped that was so - fortunately Mr Bull just gave us the eye was we tripped past.

We had a steep zig-zag climb up onto Holme House Fell. Zig-zags are not so frequent in this part of the world, but were well merited here and we were all breathing quite heavily at the top of the col, perhaps fuelled by nervous excitement as we kept carefully scanning our surroundings for large beasts.

On the way to the trig at Hazelhurst Fell we found several animal traps, all lethally set, but somehow that seemed not to be the case after we had passed by, I wonder why?

Extract from a shooting website I found:

Game shooting at Bleasdale, Lancashire: This pheasant and partridge shoot is set in a moorland fringe habitat and exploits everything nature supplies to provide the most testing of birds.

My highlighting - not much chance of nature supplying variety up here - it's all been"exploited" to extinction, except of course for grouse, partridge and pheasant - note the traps were empty.

We had been anticipating exploration of "Arbour" marked on the map. This an old stone mini chapel with English arch doorway and windows (all barricaded with steel.) The location is idyllic nestling in a natural bowl with pine trees and rhododendrons scattered, and the infant, but lively River Calder running by. The Calder source is less than a couple of kilometres away higher in the hills, but it is already a worthy little river.

For our next section we will have to walk back to The Arbour to continue our route, so keeping close to our straight line over Stake House Fell.

It was uplifting to be back on proper hills again after quite a lot of country walking recently


                        

Photos a bit dingy, although weather was good the winter light is poor.


Click first photo to enlarge for slideshow.






Distant zoom to Black Coombe


Our three shadows in the winter sun
 Looks like a meeting of the Ku Klux Klan

This and next - the steep, rugged descent to The Arbour













11 comments:

  1. I would have walked a bit faster if I'd realised that rhino was on my tail.
    Had you been to that trig point 429m on Hazelhurst Fell before?

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  2. Bc - So would I !!

    The trig at 429 was not on one of my trig sheets, but a search of this blog brought up one reference from February 2013 in a photograph caption, where I notice I have committed the sin of verbifying a noun:

    "Our canal aqueducts over the River Calder (Wyre) - not to be confused with other rivers Calder.
    Looking at the map it could make an interesting walk to its source on the slopes of Hazelhurst Fell"

    If you want to read the full post it's here:

    http://conradwalks.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-best-laid-plans.html

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  3. There is another one coming up just off our route, Hawthornthwaite Fell,478m.

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  4. BC - I'm pretty sure I've been there, but not on a trig point project. Anyway it's about 2 km. off our line.

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  5. Well done Conrad - I’ve heard that the rhino is heading for Arnside Knott. If you nip up there you might see it...

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  6. Didn't Wainwright devise his Coast-to-Coast route by first starting with a straight line? I have to say, I'm very taken with this idea. I enjoy your sildeshows and, clicking through this one, the sudden and unexpected appearance of the Rhino really made me chuckle.

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  7. Hi Mark. It's good to see someone trawling back through my efforts. I'm not sure about Wainwright and the straight line. All I can say is that this was my idea with some acknowledgement to Nick Crane and his Two Degrees West.

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  8. I think I'm right about the C2C. I also really enjoyed 'Two Degrees West'. I have another book somewhere about somebody who did something similar, along the Greenwich Meridian I think.

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  9. Mark - oh dear! Don’t give me more ideas; dare I have a look at the Greenwich meridian? Seriously, I would be interested to learn details of that book. Unfortunately there are many such which sound ok but are just poorly written - NC’s effort is a jewel and his pedigree is also impressive.

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