GLW1704 : Burton's Crags & Fish Finger Baps

Sunday 2nd April 2017

I forgot my maps, my gps batteries were flat and my phone refused to show its OS maps. Normally, this would have been a rather embarrassing disaster but fortunately today we were accompanying Roger and Denise on a walk they had spotted in the Westmorland Gazette (which also featured Roger's "well deserved retirement" - similar article and photo in Cumbria Crack).

They had all the information necessary to lead us around Burton's Hutton Roof and Dalton Crags, including John Edmondson's article.

The landlord of the King's Arms kindly allowed us to leave the car in the pub car park and we set off through Burton-in-Kendal to find the path. This is a strange village. More or less linear but that is no great surprise given its history as being on a coaching road. Its oddness is that the main street has a mixture of very old properties, some of which have been gentrified and some have not. It could be rather splendid but it's not there yet.

Our route led us up a very muddy Slape Lane (an old bridle path) where there was a view point with a rather unusual explanatory plaque.

Conventionally it had the hills etched into the metal together with their names. I thought it strange that part of the plaque was obscured by dynotape but on closer gemination it turned out to braille. A kind thought to explain the view to those unfortunate not to be able to see it.

On we climbed through into Pickles Wood.....

..... and then past the magnificent limestone pavement of Lancelot Clark Storth (who he?) to the trig point on Hutton Roof Crags.

This is a superb view point- we could clearly see the Lakeland fells, Ingleborough and, could that possibly be Blackpool Tower?

We thought so but examination of the blown-up photograph suggests that what we thought was the Tower was one of the arms of a giant windmill that was failing to do its duty.

So far the route had been mostly through lightly wooded areas until reaching the open summit. The return, after the car park featuring a van with an Audi inspired strap-line,

.....dropped down through Dalton Crags to rather different countryside- the gentle rolling pastures of Dalton Old Hall and Coat Green Farms. At the latter we saw two just-born lambs, two quite unusual giant sheep with magnificent twirled horns and a cow with a peculiar choice of horn-adornment.

More fields , featuring a very up-market hen house and a pair of kissing trees, led us back to Burton and the King's Arms.

Here we had a quite unexpected reward. A welcoming pub with friendly landlord. A fish finger and mayonnaise butty accompanied by deep fried potato skins. A first for all of us and totally delicious. What a way to finish a Great Little Walk!

Don, Sunday 2nd April 2017