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BB2625 : BOOTboys'
Block
Wednesday
5th August 2026
“Don,” I heard my publisher rant at me, “I need 1,000
words and I need them by 5 p.m. tonight.”
“Sorry,” I protested, “I’ve got BOOTboys’ block and
I can’t think of anything interesting to say.”
“Well, make it up,” he commanded. “It’s not as if you’ve never done it
before.”
I thought that was a little cruel. It’s true that at times the reports try to
capture the spirit rather than the exactitude of what happened, mainly because
I can’t always remember. It’s also true
that on a good day, much of the report has been written before my boots come
out of the cupboard. But not this week. Inspiration was not to be found.
It’s not as if we were doing anything boring. It’s more because we had done this
route so many times
before, including earlier this year. What is there new to say?
Where to begin?
That’s the easy part.
Wilf’s café in the Staveley Mill Yard where Stan, Tony and I were to
meet Stuart for a kickstart coffee.
No longer do we park in the Mill Yard. The sign says “We never wanted to start a
parking charge system.”
Today it would have cost over £12.
What impact these charges have had on the businesses
in the yard I don’t know but it
meant we parked some distance away.
Our first target was Reston Scar.
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It’s a nice little hill, doesn’t require too
much effort.....
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..... and can provides good views over to the Coniston
and Langdale fells. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case
today. We could see them but the air quality was
poor and rain might be on its way.
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The same was true of the Howgills.
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Perhaps the BOOTboys' Block started there. As usual we were happily engaged in banter
but it seemed that every story started with us forgetting the name of a key
character or where it took place.
Fortunately, and I am told this signifies the problem as being old age rather
than dementia, the names subsequently occurred to us.
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Tony had his new camera with him and I mean new.
Breaking the habits of a lifetime, he had
actually splashed out serious money rather than making do with what had seemed
an old bargain.
Naturally he was
experimenting with his 60X zoom lens.
You can judge the results for yourself from his submissions
below.
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I have to say it is a very nice
item, though a bit too bulky for my liking when walking.
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After putting on precautionary wet weather gear (in my
case, fluorescent yellow in case I needed to manage any traffic), we pressed on
to Hugill Fell.
The normally boggy area,
where some rather dodgy planking has been placed to help folk across, presented
no fears, the ground is so dry.
Normally we would have followed the path down to the
valley but I proposed we deviate slightly to Black Crag.
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What was in my mind was that it looked as if
it would provide a good view point over .....
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..... and up the Kent Valley.
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It did and, as
it was bang on noon, it would provide an essential pit stop for Tony.
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It didn’t.
He was far more interested in experimenting with his
new camera with its massive zoom lens.
He was delighted when he found he could see deep into the front room of
a house over a quarter of a mile away.
So excited was he that he didn’t need to eat before we found the bench
in the valley.
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On another day, we might have continued over to Brunt
Knott but not today. I had time
constraints so we turned back towards Staveley, passing through Scroggs Farmwith a good view of where we had been.....
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..... then down to Barley Bridge
where the weir is now broken.
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I knew that
action had been taken on other weirs on the river, the intention being to return the
river to a more natural flow. I
lamented that this one had
been similarly smashed. Of course it is
no longer needed to power the water wheels at the mill and the salmon might
find it easier to swim upstream rather than use their ladder but somehow I felt
it detracts from the appearance and the story of the village. Later
I remembered that is not what had actually
happened! BB2605
tells the real story.
We tried to return to the cars via St James’ churchyard
but were saddened to find the building fenced off.
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Apparently there are some structural issues
with the spire and expensive repairs are needed.
There is little else to report
other than Reston Knott and Hugill Fell
are both WOLFs. We returned to the cars in time for me to
arrive home in time for a tradesman who didn’t turn up.
OK, Mr Publisher, that’s 812 words.
Will that do?
Sorry it’s a little late
Don, 5th August 2026
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