Thursday 15th March
In November I had a walk in the Lyth valley CLICK and commented on a pointy peak I could see in the distance, vowing to myself to investigate when the knee improved.
The pointy peak is Hollow Stones with a spot height of 188m. I thought I may be able to continue north over Tarn Hill to Lord's Lot and return by the footpath, as indicated with red arrows on the map below.
I cheekily parked in the church car park below the Punch Bowl car park at Crosthwaite. None of this route (as walked) was on access land, so including the carpark this was an outing of total trespass. If you look at the map you will see that Tarn Hill is on access land, but there is no public access to that square on the map - what a nonsense!
Straight opposite the pub there is a small iron gate, easy to miss, leading uphill on an oppressively wall enclosed track. That leads through a private garden, and climbs higher onto open fell-side. I managed to get a shot of some deer which I know are numerous, but not often seen, so a little bonus on an otherwise less than inspiring day. The track gives way to cow trodden plodding making for potential ankle twisting. I saw the culprits herded together, sheltering from the vicious and piercingly cold wind and occasional spatter of rain in a hollow not far below the summit. I do feel sorry for livestock out in the fields in these conditions.
You can see from the photo the summit is indeed satisfyingly pointy, but the wind was so strong I was having problems remaining on my feet and quickly retreated to take stock of my intended extension. I could see the field boundaries, one after another barring the way to Lord's Lot and had no appetite for climbing walls and fences. So I descended to complete a circle of the upper slopes of Hollow Stones and then return via another non-right-ofway through Cartmell Fold Farm and back to the road.
This is a kind of walk I would have hesitated to bring anybody else on - it was just a whim stuck in my mind unlikely to be appreciated by others, but despite its curtailment I had a little glow of satisfaction at having pursued and concluded this mini exploration arising from that glimpse on the previous walk - perhaps the naughty trespassing provided added value?
I cheekily parked in the church car park below the Punch Bowl car park at Crosthwaite. None of this route (as walked) was on access land, so including the carpark this was an outing of total trespass. If you look at the map you will see that Tarn Hill is on access land, but there is no public access to that square on the map - what a nonsense!
Straight opposite the pub there is a small iron gate, easy to miss, leading uphill on an oppressively wall enclosed track. That leads through a private garden, and climbs higher onto open fell-side. I managed to get a shot of some deer which I know are numerous, but not often seen, so a little bonus on an otherwise less than inspiring day. The track gives way to cow trodden plodding making for potential ankle twisting. I saw the culprits herded together, sheltering from the vicious and piercingly cold wind and occasional spatter of rain in a hollow not far below the summit. I do feel sorry for livestock out in the fields in these conditions.
You can see from the photo the summit is indeed satisfyingly pointy, but the wind was so strong I was having problems remaining on my feet and quickly retreated to take stock of my intended extension. I could see the field boundaries, one after another barring the way to Lord's Lot and had no appetite for climbing walls and fences. So I descended to complete a circle of the upper slopes of Hollow Stones and then return via another non-right-ofway through Cartmell Fold Farm and back to the road.
This is a kind of walk I would have hesitated to bring anybody else on - it was just a whim stuck in my mind unlikely to be appreciated by others, but despite its curtailment I had a little glow of satisfaction at having pursued and concluded this mini exploration arising from that glimpse on the previous walk - perhaps the naughty trespassing provided added value?
CLICK PHOTO FOR SLIDESHOW, ESPECIALLY MAP
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| Just off the road from the Punch Bowl |
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| Cow trodden terrain leading up to the summit |
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| The pointy summit - there was a three stone cairn |
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| Anti-clockwise |
Excellent. Have you entered ‘Explorer of the Year’ with this!
ReplyDeleteKeep it up Conrad - you’re more active than me at present...
Phreerunner - It's a strong contender, but I'm holding off just in case I do something even more mundane. I hope you are returned to good health.
ReplyDeleteEven though I know that access rights are very different south of the border, it always comes as a slight shock when I read the word 'trespass'. As you know Conrad it's not something which applies up here, but lack of such a law has caused problems in some areas around Loch Lomond.
ReplyDeleteafoot - It was only years after all that access nonsense was published as shaded areas on the 1:25 OS maps that I knew what it was about. I have always roamed wherever I wanted, occasionally being conscious of the possibility of incurring the wrath of some land owner, but being prepared to be humble and apologetic which usually smooths things out when we end up talking about their grandchildren and where they have been for holiday - manipulating conversation to those ends is a little challenge that I enjoy. Of course I do behave myself by not demolishing walls and wrecking fences, but in any case, with my various knee afflictions I am tending to stick to proper paths these days - I think my off-piste days are numbered.
ReplyDeleteI've been up there too! I'm an occasional, if reluctant, trespasser, but on that occasion I was with a friend who lives in a remarkable old house on the hillside above Crossthwaite and who assured me that she knew the landowner and that we would be fine. The route from there to Lord's Lot has a number of formidable looking walls if I remember correctly. I've been up Lord's Lot a few times too, though not recently.
ReplyDeletebeating the bounds - You can't keep a good man down. I wonder what YOUR motivation was? I still have a niggle about Lord's Lot and no doubt will make a visit sometime.
ReplyDeleteThose squares of access land are a complete nonsense. Islands.
ReplyDeleteA similar situation occurs on Waddington Fell north of Clitheroe - when I phoned the planners they explained the ridiculous method of determining access areas by aerial surveys which the landowners then had some veto over. Hence the illogical situation on the ground. When pressed further as to assessing the land over walls where there should be stiles the answer was that they would wait and see if there are any complaints from the farmers. All in all a botched job for convenience and the landowners advantage. Makes me go trespassing.
BC - I agree with you, and tend to wander wherever I want, indeed we have done that together. BUT my days of climbing over walls and barbed wire fences are limited, and that is likely to be a necessity if you want to go where you wish. There are far too many people who are supposedly qualified with university degrees, supposedly as experts, being paid vast salaries only to come up with basically flawed ideas- especially designers. I have just bought a new kettle jug. It has a water indicating scale, but it is located behind the handle and almost impossible to read, and DEFINITELY IMPOSSIBLE when you are holding the handle - how basic can that be? I can see this last rant making fodder for a post of its own.
ReplyDeleteCuriously, our £10 from Currys kettle failed this week and we were puzzled to notice that many of the replacement options had the indicating scale hidden behind the handle, so we got a Bosch kettle that has very clear indicators down the side. And you can tell the difference in quality between this £30 kettle compared with the cheap old one.
ReplyDeleteIf BC is correct, and I'm sure he is, that's disgraceful; however, I am not inclined to climb either walls or fences, but gates are fair game.
Phreerunner - One thing I have learned in my more mature years is that if you persist there is often a gate available at a reasonable distance from your desired route, whereas with the impatience of youth in older times, I would not be prepared to search, thus lumbering myself with difficult options.
ReplyDelete