WW09: Pooley Bridge to Howtown

Tuesday 29th June 2010

Parking at St Peter's Church, Martindale, seemed like a good idea at the time.  Or, rather, before the time.  At the time was a wee bit later than expected, it was potentially a problem to get down to Howtown before the boat arrived.  

Fortunately, it was an easy downhill track and, in the event, we were so early we could easily have caught the wrong boat as we lined up with all the dogs!  The wrong boat went to Glenridding.  The right boat, five minutes later, to Pooley Bridge at a surprisingly fast 12.2 miles per hour.

Hallin Fell from the Ullswater Steamer

Alighting at Pooley Bridge, first stop was for an English Lakes Ice Cream.  They are seriously good.  Then we picked up the Wway and headed off south east, climbing up alongside a holiday park with some very strange lodgings- they looked like caravans without wheels.

Soon we were out on the open fell and joined the High Street Roman Road along which the BOOTboys had trodden on BB0617.  

Ullswater from the Roman Road

I was looking forward to seeing the Cockpit again.  But as soon as we got there it clouded over so I couldn't get a decent photo. However, this is a much larger and more impressive stone circle than any of the previous ones seen on the Wway.

Here we left the Roman Road, taking the more westerly path, which slowly dropped over the moorland, above the woods, high above the eastern side of Ullswater.

We stopped for a cherry break above Barton Park, where I felt something crawling on my neck.  I knocked it off to discover it was a tick that had been just about to sink its jaws into my jugular, the little beast.

Lyme disease hopefully avoided, we pressed on along the long gentle descent to Howtown and crossed Fusedale Beck by an old clapper bridge.  

Then we had the climb up to Matindale Hause and the church. I had quite underestimated how much height we would have to gain.  I don't like walks where there is a climb at the end- it seems like bad planning.  Actually, the plan had been to provide the option of an easier ascent of Hallin Fell as a bonus optional extra at the end but neither of us felt sufficiently motivated.  To be fair, however, Margaret did not complain about the climb- it was gentle and in the evening sunshine and culminated in a pleasant visit to the inside of St Peter's Church where the sun was streaming through the relatively new stained glass windows.

We had travelled fairly light, with no sandwiches, so were looking forward to a decent pub meal.  We tried the Howtown Hotel but they don't serve food in the bar in the evenings.  Do they not serve it because there was no one there or was there no one there because they don't serve it?  We were invited into the dining room but I don't think the perfumed and cauliflowered residents would have approved of us in our smelly gear.  Instead we drove back to Pooley Bridge, passing a van that had gone just a little too far off road.

The Crown wasn't exactly stunning but we enjoyed the fried combo for two whilst watching the first half of Spain versus Portugal.

Margaret wanted to avoid narrow roads on the way home so I drove up to Eamont Bridge to join the A6.  As we drove through Clifton she read the sign then asked me whether I knew that this was where had been the last pitched battle on English soil?  Well, yes I did as a matter of fact.  Tony had sent me an e-mail to that effect only a few days before.

E-mail addresses on this web site are protected by

 Spam Trawlers will be further frustrated by
 Spam Blocker: help fight spam e-mail!  

  These pages log
the progress of
Don and Margaret
along the
Westmorland Way.

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

The
Westmorland
Way

WW00:

Index

WW01:

Appleby
to Rutter Falls

WW02:

Rutter Falls
to Gaythorne Hall

WW03:

 Gaythorne Hall
to Maulds Meaburn

WW04:

Maulds Meaburn
to Hardendale

WW05:

Hardendale
to Shap Abbey

WW06:

Shap Abbey
to Knipe

WW07:

Knipe
to Askham

WW08:

Askham
to Pooley Bridge

 WW09:

Pooley Bridge
to Howtown

 WW10:

Howtown
to Patterdale

 WW11:

Patterdale
to Grasmere

 WW12:

Grasmere
to Ambleside

 WW13:

Ambleside
to Windermere

 WW14:

 Windermere
to Underbarrow

 WW15:

Underbarrow
to Natland

 WW16:

Natland
to Holme

 WW17:

Holme To Arnside

The Washing Lines

and other items

as seen by Margaret:

The Washing Lines

and other items

as seen by Margaret:

BOOT boys

Home Page