GLW1710 : A Herdy Round

Sunday 17th September 2017

Our objectives, or at least mine, were to visit the countryside featured in James Reebanks' Shepherd's Life book, to take Margaret, Cynthia & Ian up Great Mell (one of the more gentle Wainwrights), to visit the lovely little Matterdale Church and to show architect Ian an interesting development opportunity.

After stopping at Rheged for a surprisingly good cappuccino plus pain-au-chocolat and admiring the lime kilns, we parked at the foot of Great Mell, not far from where Mr Reebanks' farm is located.

Watching us, appropriately, as we set off was a group of fine looking Herdwicks.

There was no getting away from the fact that, to reach the summit, there was about 800 feet of climbing in less than a mile and at times it was rather slippery underfoot.

However, the views made it all worthwhile. Matterdale is a wide, flat valley stunningly flanked by Lakeland Hills:

Gowbarrow, Place Fell and beyond

Great Mell's twin: Little Mell

Blencathra disappeared in cloud but clearly visible was the old rifle range

After returning to the lane- presumably an old drovers' road- we made our way over to Matterdale End. En-route we had to negotiate a small ford which provided a degree of amusement!

Ian had hoped that his friends who have a cottage in Matterdale End would be at home to supply us with refreshment but sadly not so. Instead we continued on down the road to Thorneythwaite and Matterdale Church.

It's a little gem dating back to 1573 according to the date carved into one of the beams. What the rest of the inscription means, God only knows. Literally. Human's don't. Not living ones. They are thought to be people's initials but have not so far been deciphered.

Pressing on, Blencathra was now clearly visible.

As were the two Mells.

The ruin I wanted to show Ian is at Lowthwaite, at the foot of Little Mell. It is an old farmhouse and outbuildings that long were abandoned. However, it seemed to me that there was potential.

Ian's verdict was that they were best pulled down and start again but, being within the National Park, it was quite likely that the planners would refuse such action. The site is now fenced off and maybe someone is taking on the restoration challenge.

The route back involved crossing the boggy plain between the two Mells.