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BB2608 : The
Tune of the Curlews
Thursday
19th March 2026
East
of Lancaster are to be found numerous large
and small attractive villages. One such
is Wray, which is located at the confluence
of Hindburn and Roeburn Rivers, tributaries
of tributaries of the River Lune. I
am not sure if I have ever been there before.
At first I thought I had, having been
led through there by my Sat Nav when the
M6 had been closed due an incident. Now
I don’t think that is the case. Having consulted
the map, it would have meant driving extensively
over farm tracks rather than road and that
is not what I recall. Anyway, that
is irrelevant. Much more importantly, this
is the old village where Robin is now living.
It
being new territory for Mike B and myself,
and indeed for Robin also, we thought today’s
fine weather would provide a good opportunity
to check out his new environs. I discovered
a suitable walk on Komoot and it was agreed
that we would give it a go. First,
however, we were treated to bacon butties
that Jonna had kindly made for us.
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Once
devoured, our first stop was
about 100 yards later at All
Saints Church. I particularly
liked its exposed bell tower.
Also I found the colours
cast onto the stonework from
the simple windows to be strangely
attractive.
Its
website describes the church
as “friendly” and that certainly
seemed to be the case judging
by the greeting that we received
from the two ladies drinking
coffee near the altar. However,
our mission was somewhat different
to theirs and we set off through
the village.
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Next,
the Millennium Mosaic in remembrance of
the 1967 flood. It represents the wind
and storm spewing out a great tide that
devastated the village.
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After
crossing the Roeburn we started to climb
the road, heading south.
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We
encountered a man with four dogs who rather
aggressively insisted that we should abandon
our walk in favour of one not marked on
the map that led to what he described as
“little Switzerland”. We debated the
proposal but decided to stick with the original
plan but possibly to return via his suggestion.
In
the distance Whernside and Ingleborough
were monitoring our progress.
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After
about a mile, we left the road to continue
in the same direction across farm land where
curlews were singing to us. This became
increasingly rough terrain, boggy in parts
between large tufty clumps of grass.
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Eventually
we reached Harterbeck where the farmer helpfully
directed us to the footbridge over Goodber
beck (a higher degree of tributary). Unfortunately,
from the bridge we didn’t get a good view
of the waterfall. Perhaps we should
have tried harder.
This
was as far south as we were to go. We
turned west, heading for Lower Salter. We
knew there was a church marked on the map
but we expected that, given the isolation
of the location, it would long ago have
either fallen into disrepair or used as
a cattle shed by a local farmer or converted
into a distinctive sort of home. In
fact, none of these proved to be true. It
was open and still seems active as a church,
given its good state of repair, complete
with bright red freshly painted railings
plus the abundance of hymn books laid out
on the pews.
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We
stopped at Barkin Bridge for lunch .....
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.....
then took the concessionary footpath described
in the Komoot walk notes. After a steep
climb it dropped down to the river. This
was followed by another climb, this time
so steep that a rope was provided with which
to haul yourself up.
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After
a few more ups and downs we lost sight of
the path markers and found ourselves out
of the woods and heading back towards the
track on which we had trudged south earlier.
I suspect we should have gone back
into the woods somewhere. Anyway,
we reached our outward path, listening,
as we had done before, to the tune and sometimes
the sight of the curlews.
At
Kitten Bridge Robin led us on a short cut
to the pub. Unfortunately the George
and Dragon’s publican seemed unaware of
our intended visit and consequential review
so the place was not open. However
Robin had secret supplies at his house which
meant we could have a pleasant half hour,
sat in his garden overlooking open countryside
and supping his ale. A great way to
end the day.
Don,
Thursday 19th March 2026
PS
Close to Robin's house was a puzzle. There
was a parked trailer carrying a horse cart
and also set to tow another one. Why
did it have on it a Statutory
Off Road Number plate belonging to an Italian
Gilera 125cc Motor Bike?!!!!
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