Saturday 27th February 2021 - Leighton Beck
A few days ago I had a six and a half mile walk from home including the unsurfaced lane between Hazelslack and the Slackhead road. Halfway along a footpath leads off south-east crossing Leighton Beck and emerging at Leighton Beck Bridge where the Slackhead Road meets the road back to Arnside. This is another footpath that has missed my attention over the last twenty years, and that provided a target for today.
It seems peevish to complain but Lockdown is imposing just local walking on me and even though we live in a fabulously attractive AONB it is now so familiar that, dare I say, it is becoming tedious. Part of the problem is having to set off and return by only three different routes every time. I am longing for the chance to tread new ground again and look round some previously unvisited corners.
Today I made a conscious effort to scrutinise and see if I could spot things I had not noticed over all these years.
The first thing I realised was that my target, Leighton Beck, actually flows under the road only a few hundred yards from my home on its way to discharging into our offshoot of Morecambe Bay. This beck is not easy to follow even on the 1:25 map.
My target footpath took me across pleasant sheep grazed pasture to cross the beck by a rickety foot bridge. The water was flowing merrily and crystal clear contrasting with its more sluggish progress at that point near my home.
I pressed on and found other new paths eventually leading to Gait Barrow Nature Reserve with its splendid limestone pavement. The whole of this walk was through iconic limestone country and despite my moaning above it really is my favourite geographical scenery.
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Not all that spectacular but a gnarly old tree across the field from the road that I had not previously noted. Whatever I try I can't remove this underlining (including "clear formatting")
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| A small static caravan site near Hazelslack which had blossomed since I last came by |
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| I think this small tarn is just a flooded bit of field which has now become more or less permanent |
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| The start of the lane from where my target path branches. |
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| Crossing Leighton Beck and... |
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| ...looking up stream |
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| Leighton Beck Bridge. I must have driven past here thousands of time over the last twenty years, but I crossed the road onto pleasant paths toward Gait Barrow. |
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| This and below. Archetypal limestone scenery |
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| Limestone pavement at Gait Barrow |
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| County Boundary sign that some wit has added the little sticker saying "Pride of Lancashire." The boundary is at Creep-'I-th'-Call Bridge. I did once Google that name but I don't think anybody is absolutely sure of its derivation |
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| Looking from the above mentioned bridge, and yes it is Leighton Beck again |
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Clockwise. If you want to know more about the rivetingly interesting Leighton Beck look at the 1:25 map. Even there it is difficult to trace
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Just a snippet (headline only) from The Guardian the other day in case you missed this important bit of news. I do enjoy as bit of quirky American language.
‘Something bit my butt’: Alaska woman using outhouse attacked by bear
That bit of Cumbria was originally Lancashire - we want it back. Anyhow, congratulations on staying local.
ReplyDeleteIf I assume the Alaskan outhouse was a privy, what was the bear doing in it, didn't she notice him before baring her butt? More details please.
BC - Replied by email to butt query.
ReplyDeleteMy strict postal address is Carnforth, Lancs. although I live well and truly in Cumbria. I always use Cumbria on my mail or whatever, perhaps for snobbish reasons, and also as a sort of rebellion against bureaucracy. I think the PO only use the post code anyway these days.
I think the butt link is worth sharing - if you agree.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/19/alaska-woman-outhouse-attacked-bear