Wainwright's Way - Hornby to Holme - 10.5 miles
With an ongoing walking project both BC and I like to make progress in a reasonably continuous manner and we don't see it as vital to wait for ideal weather windows for each outing, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere, and we wouldn't want to walk on a whole day of nonstop rain, but today rain was forecast for the morning and clearing for the afternoon. As it happened the clearing did not come until mid afternoon so three-quarters of this walk was done in rain. But we were both well equipped and were still able to enjoy the attractive and changing scenery starting with the dramatic inundation of the River Wenning thundering under its Hornby bridge on its way to join the river Lune a mile further downstream.
The going was mainly over a series of green sheep pasture humps undulating quite steeply and we huffed and puffed a few times. I was concerned about my camera being damaged by rain and I held back on photography, and for some reason I can't define that continued even after the weather had cleared. I didn't count the number of stiles but there were many and almost without exception they were difficult and mostly in bad repair, and the planks were greasy with wet green slime adding a further potential for drama. BC was patient as I struggled with many - they (whoever) seem to have designed them at a height precisely calculated to be one inch more than a replacement knee can bend but I can't complain too much and remain thankful that I can continue with these outings at an age when most cannot. Just past Gunnerthwaite farm there was a footbridge (SD 559 733) with a "bridge closed" notice - it was in a bad way, but I, being heaviest, went across on the slippery planking whilst BC wisely waited for me to finish rather than increasing weight on the bridge.
At SD 552 753 Ordnance Survey mark a "Meter House" and we found a little wall to sit on for our luncheon. We could see a prominent mountain way in the distance which puzzled us. I took a zoom photo and then a compass bearing (directly north-west.) At home I projected this and realised it is a remarkable view of the Scafells thirty miles away in a straight line.
Not far from our luncheon stop the Wainwright's Way takes an illogical trip south west south of Old Dalton Hall, but no matter, it is attractive iconic English parkland and a delight to walk through. There was a splendid decorative iron gate with fancy cast-iron pillars which epitomised the wealth of these estates in times gone by. Bespoke wood moulds would likely have been made, after all the lord of the manor wouldn't have wanted to have the same designs on neighbours' estates.
We dallied a while in Burton-in-Kendal with its old market cross and many buildings reminiscent of the days when this village would have been an important port of call and stopover for coach travellers. The buildings line the road closely and of course it would have been a rough track then and easy to imagine today in this largely unaltered village.
A final stretch took us up the Lancaster canal and the fields west across to the A6 were as heavily flooded as I have seen. I was now on familiar home ground and will continue to be so for a lot of the remainder of this walk, but surprisingly, from looking at the route, on many paths and tracks I have not previously explored.
This is proving to be a worthy route and will continue so becoming more dramatic as we get into the Lake District.
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| Hornby castle from our car park Photo below: BC surveying the flooding River Wenning from the bridge in Hornby.  I have rarely bothered with videos before and have not delved into editing so there are clumsy opening and closing sequences in the little video I took of the rushing water.
See this link to my You Tube video of the River Wenning
from the bridge in Hornby:
CLICK HERE |
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| Just a close-up of the raging water |
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| Loyn road bridge over R. Lune - dingy rainy weather |
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| "Bridge closed" - I went first |
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| BC comes across - I am heavier so the odds were he would be ok |
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| A farmer's toy? |
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Lunch at the "meter station " marked thus on OS 1:25
but just a small building on 1:50. It was from here I took the photo of the Scafells thirty miles away
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| The Scafells |
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| Design perfection and patina heaven |
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On Dalton Hall Estate.
When the estates had plenty of money . how much would those cast-iron gateposts cost today?
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| BC weighs up Burton-in-Kendal market cross (1661?) - see below |
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| Flooded fields between Lancaster canal and The Mosses on the A6 |
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| These three follow our route from south to north with slight overlaps |
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| Note the dip south west below Dalton Old Hall |
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| The little blue dot, bottom right is the meter station where we lunched and I photographed the Scafells |
That is a very unusual view of the Scafells, taken from a good view point and such a distance: when running down the M6 towards 'Junction 36', one can often see the whole panorama of the central mountains - the Pikes clearly recognisable, of course, but I think the Scafells must be lost behind the bulk of the Coniston and upper Langdale fells: they must 'emerge' from further south and higher up - though not from the motorway, I guess.
ReplyDeleteThese north Lancs. walks do seem to run through a delightful and varied countryside - who'd have thought it !
Like your idea of a video but all I get is 'Not Available - video is private'.
ReplyDeleteBC - I think I've fixed it. Please let me know if not. I have also seen that I can edit the video and so cut out the initial shots of boots or swirling landscape. I will experiment and hopefully produce better edited ones as I learn.
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gimmer - We have both been surprised to find new ground on territory that we thought we knew.
An excellent report - I wouldn't expect anything less!
ReplyDelete' "Bridge closed" - I went first ' made me smile :-)
JJ - Thanks for that. Comments seem to be getting rarer these days. It's a good job we could get over on that bridge - if you look at the photo it would have been a bit desperate crossing that stream. There was a way round by going through the farmyard onto a track leading to the road but the farmer had put up a "Privete" notice at the entrance to his farmyard.
ReplyDeleteI like the plaque, revealing that the public subscribers of Burton-in-Kendal, no doubt elevated by those sonorous hyphens, are entirely unaware of their gift for self-parody. Seduced by those zeroes of yesteryear (No big deal; most of us passed through the same "momentous" experience.) they decide to erect a plaque. On the plaque it says they erected a plaque. But here's a question. Should someone - justifiably irritated by this blatant waste of money - remove the plaque, will those worthies erect a further plaque saying just that? Such lovable rural circularity.
ReplyDeleteVerb. sap. When I say "I like the plaque" I reserve the right to be read ironically.
RR - The replacement would probably say "The plaque that WE previously erected was stolen so WE erected this one." It would probably include a list of councillors with letters after names and positions held on the council.
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