BOOTboys

BB1120 : All The Way From Barrow

Wednesday 20th July 2011

Is this summer or what?

After days of vacillating by the forecasters, should it have been a worry to know that the latest prediction for the Kendal area was heavy rain by lunch time? However, that for Barrow-in-Furness was for sunshine and we would be half way between. What would lie ahead for us?

Well, actually, something half way between! Cloud but no rain.

Which was fortunate as we had a new BOOTboy with us- Steve R who drove James and me to Cartmel where we met up with Mike.

Cartmel with Priory

Looking back to Cartmel

The Hampsfell Hospice

We made our way through this historic old town and out on the Cistercian Way up onto Hampsfell where we took the team picture with us standing on the top of the strange summit monument- the Hospice.

Bearing in mind that the camera was on the ground below the monument, it took a couple of attempts before I managed to arrive in time to be in the delayed action shot!

See Hampsfell Hospice for a detailed acccount of this monument with photographs and descriptions of the various plaques.

Comitibus: Hampsfell Hospice

Looking west

Looking east

Looking north

Thereafter, we headed north across the fell, then along farm lanes before heading west at Head House. After Greaves Farm we briefly turned south to see on old vehicle coming the other way. Fortunately I was able to get the camera out in time to capture it and its number and later identify the car as a 1928 Austin 12/4 Saloon that had been auctioned at Bonhams in 2005. The car pased us outside the rather fine Saint Peter’s Church which we inspeced before turning northwards again.

1928 Austin 12/4 Saloon

We passed a strange stone structure which a lady who lived nearby informed us had been a pen for sheep that were found wondering through the lanes. They would be held there until the owner could be found and charged a halfpenny for its retrieval.

She also pointed out a matching millenium seat then went back into her house.

Just as we were about to move off, she came back out to tell us that her house used to be the smithy and that goats had been kept in it.

St Peter's Church

The strange stone structure

She was intrigued when James told her that we had walked there from Barrow.

Next was High Cark. Lunch was taken shortly after passing High Cark Hall.

Lunch time view over to Hampsfell

Our route south was designed to minimise the amount of time we would have to walk on roads and worked reasonably well with several interesting features being approached by footpath, including a field full of goats and a large lime kiln.

Goats by the pond

The limekiln

We also met a lady who kindly posed with her washing. James mentioned to her, to her surprise, that we had walked all the way from Barrow!

Lady posing with washing

Man with near-scrap vehicles

Then we passed through a yard with various near-scrap vehicles and engaged the in owner in conversation. Imgaine his amazement when James explained that we had walked all the way from Barrow.

More near-scrap vehciles

The new house

Further down the track James encountered an acquaintance who was building a house for his own occupation. He was impressed when James happened to say that we had walked all the way from Barrow.

My instructions had been to keep the walk to less than 10 miles as Mike had a bit of a problem with his knee. However, rather than take the direct route back across the race course, James proposed a longer and visually more appealing route.

No, not back to Barrow!

It was mostly on the Cistercian Way with a brief interlude on the Cumbria Coastal Way where, for some strange reason, James acted as a fly magnet. It was a good choice of route but pushed up the total mileage above the target!

The Cistercian Way

The fly magnet

The Cumbria Coastal Way

On reaching the race course, James warmly greeted a former employee and explained, to her astonishment, that we had walked from Barrow.

Cartmell Coffee

Having reached the cars, we were ready for refreshment so we decided to visit to the new and rather attractive Cartmel Coffee Shop near the Priory.

Here we all enjoyed a very nice cup of.....

...... tea!

James described to the lady running the shop how we had walked there from Barrow.

No wonder you need refreshment, she observed.

Returning to the cars, we were saddened to see that in the half hour we had been for refreshment, some idiot had taken a key or other such device to scratch Mike’s car. Not the sort of behaviour one expects in Cartmel and a bit of a downer on an otherwise enjoyable day out, even if we had not quite walked all the way from Barrow!

Don, 20th July 2011

Here are some more of the houses we passed en-route:

Jamie subsequently advised that the inscription on the Hospice is Shakespeare in Greek which Danae translated as "Rose-fingered dawn".

Rose-fingered dawn

STATISTICS:

BB1120	Wednesday 20th July
Distance in miles:	11.3
Height climbed in feet:	1,377
Wainwrights:	--
Other Features:	Hampsfell, Cartmel
Comitibus:	Don, James, Mike, Steve R

BOOTboys routes ares now being put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading BB1120.

To see which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing see
Which Wainwright When?

For the latest totals of the mileages and heights see: BB Log.

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2011 Outings

BB1101 :
Wasnfell Revisited
Tuseday 11th January

BB1102 :
Recuperation Scar!
Thursday 17th February

BB1103 :
A Promenade of Pensioners
Thursday 24th February

BB1104 :
The B Team
Thursday 3rd March

BB1105 :
A Little Bit Of Wind
Thursday 10th March

BB1106 :
A Linthwaite Round
Thursday 17th March

BB1107 :
Home From The Pulpit
Thursday 24th March

BB1108 :
Taking The Brunt
Thursday 31st March

BB1109 :
Up The Spout
Wednesday 6th April

BB1110 :
Not The Royal Wedding
Friday 29th April

BB1111 :
Kentmere Parts 1 & 2
Thurs 5th, Saturday 7th May

BB1112 :
Five Unknown Tarns
Wednesday 11th May

BB1113 :
Gurnal Dubbs Revisited
Thursday 19th May

BB1114 :
A March Through The Mist
Wednesday 1st June

BB1115 :
Brief Encounter
Wednesday 8th June

BB1116 :
Extraordinary and
Lesser Mortals
Wednesday 15th June

BB1117 :
Farewell David Daw
Wednesday 29th June

BB1118 :
West Side Story
Thursday 7th July

BB1119 :
East Side Story
Wednesday 13th July

BB1120 :
All The Way From Barrow
Wednesday 20th July

BB1121 :
Suitable For The Guests!
Thursday 28th July

Click on the photos
for an enlargement
or related large picture.

Wainwrights

To see which Wainwright
top was visited on which
BB outing see Which Wainwright When?.

To download a log of heights and miles and which Wainwrights have been done by which BOOTboy in the "modern" era, i.e. since the advent of BOOTboys
click on BB Log.