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GLW1205: A
Minty Treat
Monday
4th June 2012
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A
Minty Treat would probably not have
been my chosen title for this outing but
we were following a walk described in a
book given by Diane to Margaret for her
birthday.
Therein,
it is entitled A Minty Treat in the Foothills.
The
book is called Curious
Cumbrian Walks
and was written by Graham Dugdale.
It
is an attractive little compendium; most
excursions being within easy striking distance
of Kendal and not too strenuous.
Just
perfect for what we want and with some quirky
facts (and titles) thrown in.
Today,
we kicked off with number six:
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A
Minty Treat In The Foothills.
Looking
back over Kendal
The
triangle between the A6, the A685 and the Whinfell range
has long been one of my favourite areas, although we
have seldom visited it. Lying neither in the Lake
District nor the Yorkshire Dales National Parks (although
thought is being given to incorporating it into the
former), the terrain is gently rounded rather than spectacular
but the reverse is true of the long distance views.
And it is so quiet. Graham Dugdale said
that when he did this walk, he saw nobody on it. We
were there on a much busier day- we saw a party of three.
However, it was Bank Holiday so you could expect
it to be more crowded. On the other hand, it was
also the Queen's Diamond Jubilee so perhaps that kept
folk at home.
Some
of the terrain I had covered before with the BOOTboys
(see BB1034)
. The penultimate stretch, Margaret and I had
travelled in reverse when we did the Dales
Way Stage 3. However,
several of the paths were new to us and, irrespective
of previous coverage, the whole makes a nice round trip,
especially on a sunny afternoon, like today.
Whether-wise,
it was a good cutting and drying day as would soon be
proven.
A
good example of the quirkiness of the descriptions relates
to the suggestion that one should pause to look at a
distant Selside Hall and then it goes on to relate its
ghost stories.
Fair
enough except that it would have been more helpful had
it been specific as to where to stop or to acknowledge
that at this time of the year with tree foliage rampant,
there was little of the Hall that you could see!
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Consequently,
we could see no ghosts although a peculiar
thing did occur when we stopped at Selside
School, a little further on.
It
being holiday time, we could use the smart
facilities without child-molesting accusations.
But
when we came to look at the team picture,
something very strange was apparent
Spooky!
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At
Whitwell Folds, the book warned about a potentially
dangerous bull in the field (illegal, surely, by a public
footpath?)
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We
had no such problems but a big gypsy-ish
horse looked as if he would have had a go
at us had he not been tethered.
I
say we had no such problems, but a bit further
on a posse of bullocks did show more than
a passing interest. We gave them a
wide berth.
It
was silage time and the farmers were making
the most of this rare sunny day.
As were the washerwomen.
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We
did go astray once. I am not sure what happened.
We seemed to be following the instructions but
somehow ended up on the wrong side of a tiny stream
and had to negotiate our way through barbed wire and
brambles to return to the trail. The plus points
of our unofficial route were that firstly we found a
sheltered, sunny, snoozing place and, secondly, a strange
large, solid metal object. An unexploded bomb?
The
stream took us to the river- the Mint of the title-
and on to Patten Mill and the statue for which Margaret
modelled a few years ago. She has hardly changed.
At
Shaw End not only was there another fine display of
washing, there is a magnificent stable block and
a rather large house. I remember this from many
years back when Mike lived nearby. The house was
then derelict. Not no more. Now a very grand looking
place.
From
here, by a house that will be familiar to Mike, we followed
the Dales Way northwards- when we did it previously
we travelled south so it was interesting to see the
different aspects (and washing).
We
passed a number of small tarns and a notice board reminiscent
of those we had seen in Greece!
The
final stretch left the Dales Way and looped down to
the car with views over Kendal, to Benson Knott and
across to the Coniston range.
It
would be carping to make criticism of the book but the
statistician in me gets a little irritated when
distances that are clearly approximations in Statute
(e.g. "a quarter of a mile") are given a misleading
level of precision when converted into Metric (e.g.
"402 metres"). The path directions are
generally very good and usually, but not always, include
clear indications of the distances between critical
way points. Unfortunately for the look rather than the
utility of the book, the photographs are in black and
white.
Minor
niggles over, it is good for us to have so many suggestions
of local walks that are either new to us or present
interesting variations on our previous outings. The
historical descriptions add to the interest
and, judging
by today's venture, the Curious Cumbrian Walks book is going to be a success.
Don,
4th June 2012
Distance:
5.9 miles; Height climbed:
711 feet
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