BB2031 : Three Songs for Robin

Thursday 3rd September 2020

Robin wants more songs. That's what he told me when he apologised that he couldn't be with us today.  Well, I can promise three that arose during the course of today's outing.

Before explaining how and where, I need to set the scene.  The long distance footpath The Dales Way wanders along the side of the River Lune for nearly four miles.  Towards the southern end is a large viaduct, imaginatively called Lune Viaduct, that used to carry trains to meet the Leeds line near Clapham.

At the northern end, where we parked, is the Lowgill Viaduct, shortly before the junction to join the mainline to Glasgow.  

This was to be our return- the Dales Way, not the Rail Way.

The first half of our amble was more westerly.  Whilst walking ancient paths we could see the Howgills with their tops shrouded.  Fox's Pulpit plus two other features lay ahead.

The first is unlikely to be spotted other than by people who are looking for it.  However, I was in the know.  In the mid 1970s I was a member of the Westmorland Motor Club and used to navigate for Keith R. in his red Opal Manta on twelve car rallies around the lanes of South Lakeland.  These were definitely not treasure hunts.  I am not sure if they are allowed these days but I remember Keith explaining to someone that all you had to do to win was plot the route and drive like hell.  Well, in 1976 or thereabouts, we trounced all and sundry so soundly that we ran away with the championship.  So demoralised were the opposition that they never held any more such rallies but concentrated on Hill Climbs and Bike events instead.

Both Tony and Stephen are, or have been, bikers and there was something here that I thought they would be interested to see.

I knew that along the road somewhere was a sizeable area of land that the Club had bought in 1994.  I also knew that there had been a bike event last weekend.  It shouldn't be too difficult to find.  It wasn't.  The entrance to the field is where a public footpath meets the road.  It was clear from the tracks on the ground that there had, very recently, been a trials bike event.  

We followed the route taken by the bikes to the top of the small hill where, not for the first time, I lost my glasses.  Fortunately on this occasion I managed to find them but not before Tony was able to snap me on hands and knees.

Heading south, it was obvious that something quite different had taken place.  Our conclusion was that there had been a scrambles competition round a large course winding up and down the hill. However the ground had already been smoothed over so there was little direct evidence left though it must have been quite a large event.

Having walked the track, or at least part of it, we headed along the road to Fox's Pulpit from which George Fox had preached to one thousand (some say ten thousand) devout Seekers from a raised rock on 13th June 1652.

I tried to emulate him but only three turned up. Two weren't interested and the third was my PR man.

Just before the rock is a walled enclosure which is described on the present day map as Grave Yard.  The old OS maps show it as "Church, site of" but make no mention of Fox's Pulpit.  The cold wind was blowing strongly so we thought this enclosure would provide a sheltered spot for lunch.

There was no obvious sign of the remains of a church but there were signs of human remains.  There is one conventional upright, inscribed gravestone and several unmarked slabs lying on the ground.  The puzzle is that the gravestone and slabs were definitely not of Quaker style.  So, had there been a church and, if so, why in such an isolated place?

Anyway, it was during lunch that the conversation turned to the lovely old Quaker church at Briggflats  I reminded the boys of BB1419 which contained a clip of Aled Jones filmed there performing "How Can I Keep From Singing?"  I said that I thought it quite inappropriate and that what he should have been singing was....

The boys looked at me waiting for an answer.  I kept quiet.  They looked at me strangely.  I kept quiet.  More looking.  More quiet.  Then it dawned on John.  The Sound of Silence.  There is no singing in Quaker churches.

Robin- there's two songs for you.  Check out this astonishing version by Disturbed.

We headed south, down to Lincoln's Bridge though John had had to leave us by this time.  This is where we joined the Dales Way and turned north, for the most part following the line of the river.  First we passed under the Lune Viaduct and what a fine piece of engineering it is.

The cloud was thinning on the Howgill tops.

Tony and Stephen, fishermen as well as bikers, were ambling slowly along, stopping regularly to look lustfully at the river which was very full and fast after all the recent rain.  Stephen fishes for the pot whereas Tony fishes for fun (if you can call it fun when standing waist deep in freezing water for hours on end just to catch a fish slightly bigger than those around you then throwing back into the water).

At the northern end is a very, very narrow bridge that son Jamie will remember from his adventure with his first car.  Enough said!

Finally there was the second Viaduct.  Another magnificent structure sadly no longer used but still standing proudly above the valley.   

To get back to the cars we had to pass Underneath the Arches.

There you are Robin- song number three.  Thanks, Bud.  Cheers, Ches.

Don, Thursday 3rd September 2020

BOOTboys

Comments

Robin:

A BOOTboys’ ramble naming me was really rather curious,
Because the opening paragraph is really rather spurious!
‘Three Songs for Robin’ it was called, which gave me quiet pleasure;
But here’s a fourth to pay you back and I hope so in good measure!
You see - The Sound of Silence by Disturbed gets right through to my bones,
But the same could never be said for cold Snowman Aled Jones.
And I like Bud and Chesney’s song although it is quite sad;
So - in the words of Meat Loaf – Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad!

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STATISTICS

BB2031

Date:

Thursday 3rd September

Features:

Lune Viaducts, Fox's Pulpit

Comitibus:

Don, John H, Stephen, Tony

Distance in miles (Garmin):

8.9

Height climbed in feet (MM):

1,244

GPX track

BB2031

Terry

Don

Martin

John H

Stan

Mike B

Mike T

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