A Local Walk in the Cloudy, Misty Fells

Saturday, 8 October

It was very misty today with some light rain so we decided that a local walk would be preferable to driving further afield as the bad weather appeared to be widespread.


We chose the AA.com walk “Leck Beck and Easegill Kirk” which we could intercept virtually on our doorstep. This was a 3 hour walk of some 12 km. We did not find the Easegill Kirk – not a church but rock formation created by the running water over many millions of years – mainly because the descent to the beck below appeared quite hazardous. Also, it was very misty and all the fells were not to be seen. Regardless of this we took off across the fell in the mist and eventually found the stone wall which we followed to the wall which led to Leck Farm. Again we were unable to locate any of the features on the fell because of the mist. Tim was having fun trying out the GPS feature on his new mobile phone; however, with the mist/rain on both his glasses and the screen he had limited success. The return on the sealed lane and across the lower fields was quite pleasant as the mist started to clear. On this particular night a warm fire and a hot meal were particularly welcome.


According to Tim, he does the same thing to Hazel as Brian does to me – walks ahead of her and apparently they also get lost quite often. She has decided that it is a Smith family trait. They of course would not admit that we were lost – but there was considerable discussion about whether we were on the right track, especially as the instructions said that we should go downhill, but the blokes knew that that was not going down too well with the women. So we headed up across the heather on the moor. It was very wet and muddy and Hazel’s and Brian’s feet were wet though. I told them that like most of our Aussie walking friends, Brian has now lost the confidence of most of his family in the UK when it comes to walking. Jean mentioned to me the walk we took her and Bill on in Norwich when Brian didn’t know where it ended, so maybe Hazel would go with him again on a dry day, I don’t think she would on a wet one. She was so relieved when we finally reached the road it completely transformed her. I know that when we were tramping our way across the heather on the moor, she would have preferred to have been back in the lounge room at Bronte cottages reading up on the rising of the middle class in Britain which is the topic for her first essay in her MA course which she has just commenced.


Sunday 9 October


Cloudy and wet. We had a stroll around Kirkby Lonsdale including a beer at a pub serving the ales from the local micro brewery in town. Afterwards we had lunch at Plato’s and then Tim and Hazel set off from the cottage bound for home in Peterborough.


This time it was my fault that Brian and Tim got lost and very very wet. I told them that they could turn right out of the pub and then left to get back to the car park where it was necessary to feed some more money into the parking machine so that we could extend our stay. (Parking in this area is really expensive). They followed my directions, but could not find a way through so had to back track in the pouring rain. Meanwhile Hazel and I were wondering what on earth had happened to them. I had to admit that I did miss lead them because we were further around the town than I thought we were.


Monday 9 – Wednesday 11 October


On the Monday we had a visit from Sandra and Malik (the owners of No 2 Bronte Cottages) who had just returned from their sun-laden holiday in southern Europe. I think we might revert in our next overseas holiday to locations closer to the equator.


They had a great time and Malik is mad about Provence – maybe they will end up with a property we could rent from them there?


Sandra had read the blog and bought some replacement wine glasses. However, they are the lovely red wine glasses which are so fine I was reluctant to use those in the first place so all of them are okay, and it was the smaller white ones that we broke. I did manage to find some nice ones in an Oxfam shop in Kendal – advised by Gillian to look for them there – and while there were five when I bought them only 4 made it home in tact, one having broken in the bag. Don’t know why because the man wrapped them separately in tissue paper, but obviously there was not enough of it.


Then at lunchtime Stephen and Ann arrived from South Wales. In the afternoon we had a visit to Kirkby Lonsdale to do some shopping and show Stephen and Ann around KL.


As with all our guests, I took them to see the view from just below the Church. This was painted in a famous painting by Turner after it had been described by Ruskin as being the “finest view in England and therefore in the whole world”. As Joan commented it is now marred by some awful pink and blue additions to a farm building in the foreground. And because of the horrible weather, our more recent visitors did not get to see the whole view – the hills which form the background being totally covered in cloud and rain and mist.


On the Tuesday we visited Hill Top Farm at Near Sawry. We learned that the film about Beatrix Potter had been set not at Hill Top but at Yew Tree farm near Coniston. Also, that the inside scenes were in sets replicating Hill Top constructed and located on the Isle of Man. Following this visit had lunch at Hawkshead and later had a retail therapy stop-over in Ambleside.


We also learned that once Beatrix had married, Hill top was not considered a suitable house for a woman of her wealth and status to live in, so a new 14 roomed house was built not far from Hill top and she could escape back to her beloved cottage and often did so, especially when she saw people she did not wish to spend time with coming to the new house. She came from an artistic family and examples of her father and mother’s drawings are on display in the cottage as well as painting of another of her relatives. When we left the cottage we walked down beside the garden and saw lots of rabbits and a few her favourite breed of sheep.


We then went to Hawkshead village where an outdoor clothing company has a very large shop. We had a browse and Ann bought a jacket. I had bought one the week before when I was in Ambleside while Brian was doing the Helvellyn walk, so I didn’t need one. Then we had fish and chips and sticky toffee pudding at the OAP (Old age pensioner) at the Queen’s Head Inn.


As a member of the National Trust Stephen went into the Gallery in the village which was originally the offices of Beatrix’s lawyer husband. Some of her original drawings are on display there, but Ann, Brian and I decided that it was too expensive and thought that the National Trust should give a larger discount to those who pay to visit Hilltop Cottage and then go to the Gallery – it was only 50p off meaning it would have cost nine pound 50 p to see both.


On Wednesday Stephen was anxious to get out on the fells so on examination of the map we found we could combine a visit to Dent with a walk back to Easegill Kirk and then back to the cottage. Consequently, we set off in the mist and light rain and lunched in Dent at the Sun Inn. Afterward, Mary and Ann dropped us men off at the start of the walk in Dentdale at Blind Beck Bridge. It was water and mud all the way but the mist did lift as we walked. This time we did actually locate Easgill Kirk where we actually crossed the dry beck and yet the water was surging down from Great Coum. Apparently this paradox is explained by the beck going underground and resurging further downstream. Stephen had been concerned that we would not have been able to cross the beck at any point because of the increased and rapid flow. In that case we had a contingency plane to return to the start at Dentdale and phone for our rescue. But all was well and we returned safely after a 3.5 hour walk over 12km with only wet and muddy shoes and socks to show for it.


Ann and I drove into Kendal – on the way passing lots of pheasants – apparently they sit on the fence i.e. a stone wall beside the river but there were lots of them in the fields close by as well. We went to an outlet shop – again mentioned to me by Gillian – and discovered that it was a Clarks’ shoes outlet. I was looking for some boots but couldn’t find any that I wanted, but Ann did get some nice black shoes which she will need after she has her hip replacement operation. She is in a lot of pain with it and it hoping that she will be able to have it before Christmas. We were going to have coffee in Kendal, but when we looked at the map decided against it because it was too far for Ann to walk, so we drove back and got home just before the men.