A familiar comment on walking enthusiast's blogs notes the absence of meeting others as a plus; is that really true? I can only speak for myself.
I most enjoy walking on new territory. If that is over remote countryside so much the better. I can kid myself about how wild it is and how few people have been there recently. If I was continually meeting others, either single walkers and more so groups, either coming towards me or more likely these days overtaking me, that self delusion would be spoiled. If I only met one or two fellow walkers that is fine especially if some interesting conversation ensues. Friendly inhabitants are also welcome. Unfriendly locals when one may be perhaps off the public right of way are an enjoyable challenge (usually) - a bit of humble apology then flattering their dog/environment/tractor can most times soon have them talking about their grandchildren and where they holiday.
Today I walked for just under seven miles and apart from one or two cars passing me on a couple of short road sections I genuinely never saw another person, not even in the distance. I never even heard any voices. Whatever people say about not meeting anybody, to walk for seven miles in England with no sight nor sound of other humans is pretty rare. That was no problem for me and I had a thoroughly enjoyable walk.
I was able to park on the grass verge of the B 6254 at the midpoint when I would have preferred to walk the whole of that less attractive section at the beginning, but one is thankful to find any parking near to the start of a route. One thing I try to avoid is driving along part of the route I will subsequently be walking on especially if this is new terrain for me.
Part of this walk was covered years ago but most of it was new. Short sections of tracks, fields, rough country, woods, ascents and descents, and surprise views made for variety and interest. This was everything a country walk should be.
At one point I spotted a curious circular tower in the middle of a field. It was of dry-stone construction and about twenty five feet tall with four, what looked like, ventilation panels high up (see photo below.) There was an unusual prefabricated stile into the field and I diverted the hundred yards to investigate but could come to no conclusion about the tower's purpose - the mystery remains.
Further on I found a concrete sphere about seven feet in diameter rolled into the undergrowth resting against a tree. Again I diverted to have look. It looked like something from Portmeirion. I thrashed the few yards through nettles and on the other side there were indications that it was some kind of abandoned septic tank. What a let down. But the how and why of its ending up in that location provided today's mystery number two.
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| My path went over the distant dip in the skyline giving a rewarding view to the strangely named lake Wyndhammere. Internet browsing revealed nothing of interest about the lake but even though it is man made it does enhance views of this countryside. |
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| Distant Barbon hills. The lake can just be seen nestling beyond the trees in the centre |
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| Having walked round the head of the lake this is taken from the other other side. |
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The tower (below) was a hundred yards off into the field halfway along the wall.
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| This unique (to me) cast concrete stile leads into the field for the tower. I guess it is part of the infrastructure connected with the two boxes (see next photo) on the other side of the wall. All this may or may not be connected with the tower - all remains a mystery. |
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| Surprise view with fleeting sunlight down into the Lune valley with the Barbon hills above |
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| Rigmaden Farm |
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| After walking over the tops and descending into the Lune valley it was time to start climbing back over. My route branched off into the pleasant woods on the left |
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| Just before emerging from the woods, this is the Portmeirion object a few yards off the path.... |
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| ...and round the other side. |
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| All other paths on this walk were fine - this fifty yard section was the exception but I had sadistic fun thrashing at brambles and nettles with my walking poles. |
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| My route at centre. Ignore others on my cluttered Memory Map |
I agree with you about avoiding human contact at the moment. You did well but it would have been good to meet a friendly farmer who could perhaps have answered your two questions.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering how you came to choose that particular walk from pouring over maps the night before. I'm sure you didn't use a pin.
BC - Pouring over the map is the answer. My desk-top Mac Memory Map became so cluttered with routes tracks and markers I started deleting a lot of them perhaps a year ago. Now if I want new territory I have to rely on my memory as to whether I have plodded there before. That is becoming increasingly difficult.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping I met get some response from readers about the tower but blog comments seem to be drying up. That is strange when it is likely that many will have plenty of time on their hands. Perhaps they've all gone over to hateful Facebook?
I am horribly guilty of not making enough effort to comment, for which I apologise.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be of use on the question of the tower, as I'd also like to know what it is.
Gayle - I haven't had a concentrated effort at solving the tower puzzle - I may have another go when I get a bit of spare time - I seem to swing between being too busy and then slothful idleness.
ReplyDeleteThe word Wyndham has been bothering me for a couple of days, I have just come up with the connection.
ReplyDeleteJohn Wyndham the bleak science-fiction novelist.
I devoured his books back in my teenage years. The Day of the Triffids, The Kraken Wakes, The Midwich Cuckoos, The Trouble with Lichen. All worth another read.
Thanks for jogging my memory.
I wonder what dark secrets your tower holds?
BC - I read all those years ago. I think the Penguins are somewhere on my shelves - he was a good writer. I have looked a bit further for tower info. but drawn a blank. My guess is that it's some kind of water tower but I've never seen anything like it before, especially within its context.
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh - you can ‘hide’ routes on MM thereby decluttering the map without losing routes. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteafoot - I am aware of being able to hide routes but through laziness I have not named most of them so they are just identified by a number so if I "hide" and then want to look again I cannot identify them from the overlay list. And if they are hidden I will not know they exist anyway apart from the ones I can recall from memory. The thought of now going through them to add names does not fill me with much enthusiasm. Having said that I have been more disciplined recently for ones I know I want to keep.
ReplyDeleteA people-less walk and a mysterious tower... what a great walk. I read the comments, hoping for an answer to the tower mystery, but nobody seems to know what it is. No suggestions from me, I’m afraid.
ReplyDeleteRuth - I have tried again on the Internet to no avail. Sometimes these little mysteries are the better for being unsolved. The explanation is usually a let down.
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh - Sorry Conrad, teaching my grandmother and all that. As regards not knowing that your hidden routes exist if hidden, I assumed that you retained the screen shots used in your posts.
ReplyDeleteI notice I've made it harder for you to find your routes by 'hiding' them twice!
ReplyDeleteYour tower is an Air Shaft. It isn't shown on maps pre dating the building of the reservoir. So my guess is it has something to do with the water management, or possibly a foul air outlet. There isn't much on the internet so I guess asking the utilities is the way forward. I would like to know myself.
ReplyDeleteafoot - I suppose I will bumble on in my haphazard fashion but remembering to name routes I want to keep.
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Alan R Thanks for that. Perhaps there is an underground reservoir? I'm pretty sure there isn't a railway tunnel running under there.
Very good, Conrad, and no problem with a paucity of comments on this posting.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of people just look at Facebook these days. They can't be bothered with looking at specific blog entries. Never mind, some of those who do read your entries will I'm sure really value them, even if they don't comment.
Keep it up! (And sorry, I can't help with the tower.)
Re Martin's comment: I do use Facebook (although I don't leave many comments there either), but also read almost all of the blog entries that land in my blog feed. I'm firmly in the category of valuing those posts, even though I'm really poor at commenting. I usually have a comment in mind having read a post, but I have such a great dislike of typing on a virtual keyboard that I defer until I have a real keyboard in front of me. The flaw is that I can't spend much time looking at a computer screen these days for fear of the migraine it will give me and, too often, of the list of tasks I need to do in any one session, it's the commenting that doesn't get a look-in.
ReplyDeleteNow there's a tangent from the Great Unsolved Mystery of the Tower!
Phreerunner and Gayle - I can never find anything on Facebook and if I comment or post I'm never sure who the recipients are going to be. Some of the time I am in Groups, and at others in Arnside Seek and Sell with no visible distinction. It is also far too easy to embarrassingly send your message to the wrong person. The whole thing bewilders me. BUT worst of all people put on a photo or something similar with no explanation or back story, and as for those emoticons which are supposed to be some kind of excuse for not using your brain to say what you think...
ReplyDelete...and then for the recipient to have to find a chart that explains the meaning, if one is sufficiently interested which is unlikely - grrr!
Lots of intrigue on that walk. I tried to find something about the tower on the web, but to no avail. I think that area, between the motorway and the Lune has lots of potential and very few visitors. I think I shall be following in your footsteps at some point.
ReplyDeleteI find Facebook infuriating in many ways. Just today I've been forced to download a new version of the App onto my phone which seems to have removed the feed where I was able to scroll through activity in all of my groups in one place (albeit to see anything useful I almost always had to first tell it to reorder the posts).
ReplyDeleteRegarding not explaining photos: I'm more guilty of that than I knew. Just these last few days I've been having 'memories' cropping up in which I've shared a photo with some comment, but have failed to say where that photo was taken. When it's a selfie taken on top of a hill, I've little chance now of remembering where it was (although at least I have the blog, so if I'm that curious, I can look up the relevant day's post).
Gayle - the only merit of Facebook is being able to hit a larger audience at one go and for me that is a rare requirement, and even when I deploy it I am never quite sure what has happened to my message even though I have clicked on "public."
ReplyDelete