Bleasdale with BC

Tuesday 12th November 2024 

Kemple End has been a fantasy location for a number of years with its quirky name tickling my imagination. Bowland Climber has mentioned it many times during our years of walking together but it has remained a kind of mystery for me, even to my questioning its actual existence, and somehow we  never passed through or ended up there. 'Tis  a source of humour between the two of us.

My car was booked to have a combined reversing camera and sat nav installed at Base Systems in Preston. They have been there for over 50 years and operate to a high standard fitting quality audio equipment to motor vehicles. They needed a whole day from 8:30 am so, as their location was not far from BC's residence, I asked him if he would like to meet me there and make a walking day of it.

I had left it to BC to devise a walk but as I got into his car I sensed that it was to be a mystery tour, but I think I put a bit of a damper on that. I I couldn't help asking "Are we going to Kemple End?" There was no reply, except for a hint of a grin from BC.

Our first destination was back to BC's house for a welcome coffee, and to give  Seth, BC's seventeen year old cat, the news that we would be coming back after  the rest of the walking that BC had planned. That was  to take Seth to the cattery for his sojourn of a few days while BC would go off next day on yet another multi day LDP walk.

We drove off into the network of attractive roads in the southern bowl of the Bowland Hills and parked at an isolated spot which I would have difficulty in finding again without the aid of a good map and the now gleaned name of the location. We took a  rough path alarmingly near the edge of a thirty foot drop into a now tree grown quarry below.  After a hundred yards or so BC indicated we needed to descend a steep banking of muddy tussocky grass, and steep enough to require us  to turn and face and descend with some difficulty. At the bottom a sweep of impressive rock from the old quarry ran off for around a hundred yards ending in an impressive knife edge arrete that was an obvious magnet for any hot blooded climber. This was Kempel End. BC had been one of the original developers of this excellent rock climbing venue many years ago and he was rightly "proud" to at last show it off to me.

Another car drive took us to start a walk around Bleasdale. That is the attractive vale enclosed by Parlick, Fair Snape Fell and other fells on the southern edge of the Bowland Hills. We had perfect blue sky walking weather, not quite cold enough to need gloves and all was peace and quiet.. BC is knowledgeable about this part of his domain and enlarged on many points of interest. We were also able to look again at part of the route we had walked on 28th November 2018 on our straight line walk between our respective houses. A memorable day involving a rhinoceros. 

Not far from the finish we had a final highlight visiting the Bronze Age Bleasdale Circle.

Back at BC's we picked up Seth and dropped him off at his temporary home - he seemed little fazed having been through this routine many times over the years. BC took me back to my car and off I went home trying to get the voice part of the new sat-nav working. That has been sorted now and all is well.

What a good day. Thanks BC

Tricky descent to get to see Kemple End.

The arete can be seen overexposed in the distance

The Arete. Several E grade routes with stories to tell

Looking back from the arete to the end where we gained access and exit

Seth is always friendly

Bleasdale church - the original goes back to Saxon times

Saxon window, (but not the lintel I was informed)

The stone from the original building has been used elsewhere in the area as required as per the carved lump in this wall

Unusual self catering units with fabric or similar roofing and walls. I didn't search too much on the Internet and couldn't track them down. Could be odd when the wind blows?

Old packhorse bridge on the route from the large Bleasdale Estate house to the school and the church

Fair Snape Fell and Parlick

Well preserved cobbled farmyard. We pondered on the source of these presumably river weathered stones

Bleasdale Circle. There is a notch in the skyline which it is thought aligns the sun with the circle at the solstice

I used tracking on my Memory Map on iPhone for the first time ever. When enlarged you can see the slight variation on our there and back routes to the Bleasdale Circle.

Bloody Gate (literal.) B. bog (swearing.)

 Wednesday 30th October 2024

Dank, dismal, dreary and sometimes dangerous. The contents of a less than satisfactory walk

I crossed the road to New Hutton church. There were a pair of dramatic greyhound gatekeepers on columns at the entrance. Ah! An almost certain snippet for this post. But no! Subsequent research revealed not much was known except they may have been brought there from a local farm.

Squelchy, cow trodden farmer's fields were the main feature of the rest of the day with awful stiles competing with the field for degrees of censure.

OS shows the footpath crossing the wall in the exact corner of the second field of the day. There was no stile. But, thirty yards to the right the wall top was broken where folk had obviously crossed but it was all a loose jumble. I did managed to cross with much difficulty, fortunately without bringing down the whole lot, but it was like playing that game of Pick-a-stick where one false move creates disaster.

Part of the low rating for this day of dismal weather was my own fault with several egregious errors of navigation. At Millrigg farm I did a hundred yards of steep uphill on the wrong side of a fence and had to retreat having missed the footpath sign somewhat obscured by trees. (The slightest ascent is noticeable with my breathlessness.)

The next stile may have been ok in summer but the through stones were covered with green slippery slime and impossible to stand on. I had to climb the wall on the right instead, again with awkward contortion and exaggerated care to avoid breaking a leg or worse.

Approaching Hall Bank farm I could see a bullock feeding from a trough next to the field exit. With one eye on the animal I set about opening those huge double galvanised farm gates. They have a kind of heavy attachment that folds over and down each side of the gate to fasten. With part of my attention on a potential bullfight I let the thing slip and it bashed the back of my hand. A small vein was cut and quite extensive bleeding followed. I wrapped a handkerchief round that and later on a plaster from my rucksack. At the farm there was no indication of the marked footpath. There was an attached holiday cottage and I wondered round the back as there seemed to be nobody at the farm. I was taken aback to see a portly naked guy sitting in a huge outdoor hot-tub bubbling and steaming away. He had no knowledge  of footpaths and was quite curt and unpleasant in his manner which was perhaps understandable. I retreated and found an unmarked route through gates to get back onto the main track- Country walking eh!

A bit of relief followed from a stretch of downhill road taking me to Millholme Bridge and then an ancient sunken uphill bridleway with loose rocky stones underfoot covered by fallen leaves. 

At Ashes farm I thought the path went through the farmyard and I was accosted by a slightly irritated farmer who directed me onto the proper path down the side where again, mea culpa, I had missed the footpath sign.

You can see the rest of the route on the map below, but again I missed a path turning for Hall House and walked several hundred yards downhill in error having to return back uphill. By now with all the diversions and endless stopping to check the map I was starting to worry about it getting dark before I finished.

At Hawkrigg Farm my route coincided briefly with my outward path and perhaps because of tiredness  I made the huge error of turning the wrong way when I was only about a third of a mile from the car. I walked over half a mile in the wrong direction with no option but to return.

On the short common stretch with my outward journey I had crossed a very boggy area with difficulty to a stile. There was no way of avoiding it. As I now ventured back onto this stretch my feet became suctioned and I fell forwards into the mud, Both arms went in right up to my elbows, and I was wallowing in sloppy mud. With my two replacement knees I do have difficulty in getting back up from the ground. There was one thicker tussock I manage to crawl frontside onto then heave myself up pushing down, but my feet were sucked in. Eventually with supreme effort I managed to stand. I took one step forward and the rear foot didn't follow and I fell again and had to start all over. I was there for half an hour. It was now dark and I was completely covered, rucksack and Paramo jacket and trousers and all in wet mud.  I walked the couple of hundred yards to get onto the road. From there a footpath of about quarter of a mile lead back to my car but I didn't fancy that in the dark even though I did have a torch. I could see that I could use the road instead albeit a longer distance. Just then a farmer appeared from the farm on a quad bike and I waved him down and he kindly took me back to my car.

I think I have finished with farmer's fields, blocked footpaths and country walking. I yearn for higher ground but with my affliction that is not easy to attain. I must search out again some of the old Dales limestone lanes even if it means just doing a linear there and back.

In a lifetime's walking there will always be bad days as with any sport or pastime, and if nothing else I did manage to extricate myself without calling out the boys and there was some mild satisfaction in that.

New Hutton church with the unexplained greyhound gatekeepers

Here we go into the squelch

OS marked the footpath at the wall corner fifty yards to the left. There was no access over the wall there - just this precarious problem which I managed to cross without breaking my leg

I had walked up the wrong side of this fence and had to retreat, only then to see the footpath sign partly obscured by trees

Through stones covered in slime. I had to climb round the righthand side of the posts instead

Happy days!

This just shows the gloomy atmosphere that persisted all day contrary to a more optimistic weather forecast

The man in the hot-tub is just under the bush to the right of the house door. I did zoom in Photoshop but he is just concealed by the bush

Route goes clockwise from New Hutton. The odd red lines show where I went the wrong way

Bowland Climber explores my stamping ground

 Tuesday 22nd October 2024

Today's walk had me thinking about local knowledge. Bowland Climber was enthusing about a new guide from Cicerone Press detailing walks around my own domain of Arnside and Silverdale. The guide suggested parking and starting from the Milnthorpe Arnside road at Sandside along the railings of the Kent estuary. When there is a high tide and a contributing wind that road is susceptible to serious flooding. I suggested parking higher up the road leading into Storth village.There is no particular warning that I know of about this and it is an unfortunate omission from the guide. I wonder how often we visit unfamiliar locations and unwittingly launch off without the benefit of some relevant local knowledge.

A short walk back up the road and we were able to double back through the railway cutting footpath. The cutting through solid limestone with a depth of forty feet or so must have been a formidable challenge back in 1876.

The steep exposed rock faces had BC captivated, assessing lines, new routes, first ascents, names in a guide. book, and the like. Some years ago in my Geocaching Period I had told BC about a geocache high up on one of those walls but we never got round to sorting it. Today, thankfully, BC had a look and  considered it would need tackling with rope and protection. We moved on.

We passed to the rear of the Ship Inn, now closed and subject to rumours of its ownership by a local property empire builder with some unidentified redevelopment plan.

We made a diversion to view Hollins Well as marked on the OS map - I had been there before. On the way we got mixed up with a dozen or so folk off to annihilate pheasants. We heard their shots for a while as we viewed the less than spectacular stone trough covered with twigs and leaves under a dank wall in gloomy woods. A lady in the shooting party had offered us lemon sweets which I felt a bit guilty for accepting considering my anti "killing things for pleasure" stance.

That all sounds a bit gloomy but weather-wise this was the best for many a day with sunshine and clear blue skies and the best of autumn colours - a good day to be out.

Emerging back onto the road we crossed and followed a loop back to Dallam Bridge following the river Bela where it emerges into the Kent Estuary with expansive views across to Whitbarrow and back down to the Arnside railway viaduct. When the the sun is in the optimum position and the reeds on the far bank of the Bela have turned golden there is the opportunity for a classic photo with the weir in the foreground, the golden glowing reeds  to the left on the far bank, and picturesque Dallam Bridge in the background. Somewhere I have that photo but for the moment can't track it down on my Mac photos. 

Dallam Estate allows access through its deer populated parkland and gentle climbing gave us more elevated distant views back up the Kent estuary and distant Lake District hills.

Descending through ancient mixed atmospheric woodland BC was keen to locate Dog Hole as marked on the OS map. I had visited previously resulting in a blog post of above average interest which seems to have disappeared, but a subsequent post gives a good summary:

 https://conradwalks.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-dog-hole-sd-482-802.html

Also identified on that visit was an ancient oak  in the middle of a field which I was given to understand had some designated status. I got a good photo of it today.

Our walk finished back through the  village of Storth with its well appointed residences.

As this was a local walk I tended not to record many photos, and overall there is a much more detailed and well written account from BC.

https://bowlandclimber.com/2024/10/24/sandside-discoveries/

The road that floods and the views up the Kent estuary from our start

BC planning first ascents

This is just a gate! Note the yellow handle

Just right for popping down to the local shop

Hollins Well, or perhaps Hollins Unwell?

This is an inferior version of the photo opportunity I mentioned above, especially as I managed to miss most of Dallam Bridge

In Dallam Estate deer park with the River Bela

St. Anthony's Tower above Milnthorpe. When I moved to Arnside over twenty years ago I was compelled to trespass and investigate only to find a dead sheep lying in the bottom

The Dog Hole. More information if you click on the link above. It is not easy to find because its accompanying footpath is not marked as a public right of way on the OS map. GPS, although not essential, was used despite me having been there at least twice before.

The ancient oak tree

Unusual house name - Internet came up with:
"Istrouma is an unincorporated community in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States."

Anticlockwise