Tuesday 8th august 2023
Couldn't find my Seal Skin lightweight hat before setting off - defaulted to the cumbersome Tilley and away for 7:45 (am!)
Up the M6 and off to Shap then off again to Lowther and on to Askham. These two villages are part of the Lowther estate where the Kendal Calling festival was held a few days ago. In Lowther and its surroundings placards and road instructions for visitors and officials still lingered. This festival is part owned and run by the father (Jamie) of granddaughter Katie's best friend Lilly (the girl who went to America for brain cancer treatment years ago when we were all keeping our fingers crossed.) Lilly has grown up with Katie and they are now both 11/12 years old. They both attended Kendal calling and as the daughter of one of the owners and organiser they were chaperoned and had VIP treatment throughout, and as my son W would say, they were "peaking." I suppose it won't be long before these two want to go to similar events down the country without the benefit for mother Jill of any chaperoning - the shape and worry of things to come?
It was good to see Askham Stores still thriving which I remember from my last visit here in 2016:
Click if you want to see
A steady climb out of the village on tarmac with a cloudless blue sky, but a sneaky cheeky little wind had me reluctant to doff one of my all time favourite garments, a very thin Pertex shell, featherweight and light enough to scrunch up into a ball almost to fit within the palm of a hand, but perfect for keeping off those sneaky, chilly winds. I bought this from a long-gone manufacturer in an old mill in the depths of Victorian industrial Preston perhaps twenty five years ago and have never been able to find a replacement since and it is sadly now becoming somewhat bedraggled, aren't we all after all those years?
The tarmac yielded to a track out onto the open fell, then perfect cropped turf after topping out and then descending on a stony track to Pooley Bridge. I had met only one mountain biker coming the other way earlier, but the track down into Pooley Bridge was populated with an eclectic mix of walkers with rucksacks, family groups, and excited children, and dog walkers with dogs straining on leashes anxious for freedom, and wafts of female perfume as the more respectably clad passed by. One family group on bikes was approaching, Mother leading and a very small child on mini bike behind and Father fifty yards back. I was impressed at the very small child pedalling away up this steep rocky track but as they passed I saw he was being towed by Mother.
My aforementioned visit to Pooley Bridge (2016) was on the day when the opening of a temporary bridge had been installed after the original from centuries back had been washed away. I was one of the first to cross. I was curious to see the semi-military functional modern item had been replaced so I diverted right down through the village and found that a new bridge has been constructed which is reasonably harmonious with its Lake District surroundings. Pooley Bridge was thronging with tourists. I had coffee and cake in a pretentious bookshop come café which was not really successful in either of those guises
Another "climb" out of Pooley Bridge followed. I use that word with inverted commas because in older times that part of this walk wouldn't have been remotely recognised as a climb. A short distance on tarmac had me back onto a track and then ascending, this time unequivocally steeply up sheep pastures for over a kilometre. With my breathlessness affliction I was taking tiny little steps and stopping to regroup every thirty steps or so up to a rickety stile and then on to phase two. A solid stone stile was negotiated with some difficulty and then passing out onto the top and skirting Winder Hall Farm it was downhill all the way on tracks and then tarmac back to Askham. although Winder Hall Farm is depicted by OS in their sort of Medieval script Internet searching by me found nothing of interest.
WORTH CLICKING PHOTOS TO ENLARGE, ESPECIALLY SHARP EDGE
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| This and below, walking out of Askham |
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| Tarmac gives way to track |
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| Looking back to Askham in the dip behind the farm |
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| Mountain biker heading down to Askham - we had a brief chat about the many different latches on farm gates |
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| Walking perfection |
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| Hills to the west of Ullswater |
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| Are these Longhorns? They were quite benign despite those threatening looking horns |
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| Boundary stone, and for me a bit of heather in bloom |
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| First view of Ullswater |
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| The new bridge in Pooley Bridge |
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| Pretentious coffee and cake - £6.75 |
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| We always say "steeper than the photo shows" but 'twas the case. The climb continued beyond that horizon - see next photo |
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| Zoom to Blencathra. I think the prominent Ridge with sunlight is Hall's Fell ridge This may get used for the next periodic showing of favourite photos on my Mac's "Wallpaper" |
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| My surmounting of this one was hardly gainly. |
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| This and below, Winder Hall Farm |
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| Clockwise from Askham |
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Route location - blue. Red =The Ullswater Way route that I downloaded out of interest after it being mentioned by Bowland Climber |
A recent photo of me and granddaughter Katie. I can't get my hands on any from Kendal Calling
Very pleased you are back doing more strenuous walks. I hope it’s a sign that your health and well being has improved.
ReplyDeleteAlan R - Thanks for that. Although improvement may be apparent I think it is just my urge to get back out onto some uncharted territory even if that mans scaling down distance and ascent ad accepting a slower rate of progress . I have another medical examination appointment on September 12th which I am told will scientifically measure any improvement.
ReplyDeleteWell done, looked a nice day.
ReplyDeleteBC - I pick them with the help of the weather forecasts now much improved from twenty years ago.
ReplyDeleteAmbitious nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting comment about the weather forecasts of today: the forecasts might have become more reliable but the forecasts haven't: the forecaster's job has become very simple - rain today with wind , moderate to strong, variably gusty - same very day.
ReplyDeleteI thought they missed a trick with the new bridge at Pooley - those stone walls are completely out of place and ugly: considering the relatively airy design and construction of the bridge, they should have been stainless steel open-work. Either that or the bridge should have been more 'massive' to match the walls. The combination jars.
Excellent, Conrad, and the Porsche is great - I'll have to inspect it soon!
ReplyDeletegimmer - The Met Office app forecast tI use is generally good. It gives hour by hour detail - we often joke bout the rain not arriving precisely on time as predicted. I was hardly ecstatic about the new bridge but at least some effort was made.
ReplyDelete--------------------------------------------
Phreerunner - I'm looking forward to a ride in my Porsche. I've just ordered the next kit - a Lotus 7.
Huum - the comment I made about forecasts was auto-edited so the feeble joke was snuffed out.
ReplyDeleteI was introduced to an 'app' called Ventusky - appropriately enough from a Czech party - which provides 'real time' weather (information, not events) anywhere at any almost any time interval and geographical precision one chooses - I use it to interpolate the three hour or greater interval of the BBC website - which often misses heavy short duration storms, particularly in this area of rain shadows and complex wind patterns.
gimmer - that would have been useful during our trip to Chamonix?
ReplyDeleteMay be we wouldn't have taken the chance and so failed to complete the project and the relief that the cure came before the rain. A bit of a two edged sword, really - the general forecast enables one to defer invading France, but not to choose the hour - I wonder how many wonderful experiences have been - huh - experienced - if one had known the exact hour the storm was coming - but which then veered off - to rain on someone else's parade - and allowed the magic moments on the hill! A bit of both, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI misread "and then passing out"; thought you'd overdone the mini-gradients.
ReplyDeleteJust re-read Thoreau's impatient quote. Wondered if he'd ever twisted an ankle while on one of his lonely walks and given thanks that help was probably a long way off. Come to think about it, wasn't Thoreau the one who developed his daytime lucubrations in his woodland cabin and then spent his nights in a hotel? People who lecture the world rarely get the sympathy they imagine they deserve.