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BB1908
: The Toad With A Glint In His Eye
Thursday
21st February 2019
At
first it just looked like someone had removed a manhole
cover and left a rectangular hole in the ground. But
what was this doing in the middle of a field?
On
closer inspection we could see that it was no man-made
structure but the natural entrance to a mini limestone
underground cavern. And that might have been the
end of it had we not seen the glint. A flash of
light.
On
even closer inspection we could see it was emitting
from a toad's eye.
And
on even more closer inspection we could see why. Right
in front of him was a very pretty young toadette. No
wonder he had a glint in his eye. Well, bufo bufo!*
That
was near Hutton Roof but our outing had started with
the ascent of Farleton Knott.
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Unlike
our last visit, we went the sensible way up- underneath
the crags of Holme Park Fell. We had chosen this
area as the clag was down in the Lakes and the ground
was sodden other than in limestone country. Of
course there is the negative that limestone is very
slippery when wet. We had to take care.
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Farleton
Knott is an excellent viewpoint on a good day but we
hadn't expected to see very much so weren't disappointed.
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Martin
and I had a bit of a disagreement as the best way to
cross over Newbiggin Crags and on to Uberash Plain.
We went some way along my route then Martin questioned
whether it was the right way. As he had lived
in the area I deferred and we retraced our steps
to pick up Martin's route.
Now
that I can look at our tracklog on the computer, I can
see that, in fact we were both right for what we wanted
to achieve. He was just that bit righter although
it meant we would not be visiting the Ploverlands summit
trig point. Probably just as well given the slipperiness.
As
we descended through the wonderfully named Blasterfoot
Gap, I tried to phone Ian G to warn him that we would
shortly be passing his house in Hutton Roof. Sadly there
was no reply.
We
stopped for a while at what I believe is called the
Cuckoo Stone though I am not sure why unless it is an
erratic- a different species of stone deposited in a
limestone nest. Or something like that.
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Half
an hour later my phone rang. It was Ian. I
explained where we were which, by now, was a couple
of fields away on the other side of the village. He'd
been out playing golf. Had he only known, he said,
he would have invited us in for a couple of drams.
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We
were tempted to retrace our steps for a second time
but Tony prefers ale so we continued on our way. It
was then that we had the bufo bufo incident. The
Toad with a Glint in his Eye
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High
Biggins has some interesting old buildings,
some beautifully restored, some in need
of resoration and one in process.
Tony
and I stopped to engage in conversation
with the restorer when all of a sudden I
realised I knew who it was.
Steve
B. He and Helen were hard at work
completing their project. We stopped
to admire their efforts then continued on
our way.
Soon
we were in Kirkby Lonsdale.
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We
spent a while exploring this interesting little town.....
.....
then John mentioned something. The Orange Tree.
It has its own carpet and, more importantly, its
own brewery.
I
looked at Tony. Guess what? There was a
glint in his eye. Beero beero!
Don,
Thursday 21st February 2019
*
bufo bufo is the scientific name for the common toad
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