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GLW2019 : A
Small Hill And Some Tall Tales
Tuesday
22nd December 2020
A
short, socially distanced walk close to Emma's house
as her car wouldn't start. What could be better than
Cunswick Scar and the opportunity to tell a few tall
tales? Would Luca and Ellie be able to tell fact
from fiction? Would I? Would you?
We
crossed Windermere Road and climbed up alongside the
allotments before turning right, heading across the
fields below the crag. "Did you know that there
is a cave in those crags?" I asked. "Is
there?" asked the grandchildren. "Yes, my friend
Stan told me about going in it when he was your age".
Hmmm.
We
walked on towards the Twit's house. At least that
is what Ellie called it. To me, it's an old barn
but then I don't have their imagination.
However,
on the way there, Luca spotted a rather large round
stone, standing alone. How do you think it got
there? I asked. Luca knowingly informed me that
it was glacial debris. "Not so," I said. It
was actually placed there by the residents of Kendal
to celebrate Queen Victoria's Jubilee. It is known
as the Jubilee Stone. He gave me a strange sort of look
and a roll of the eyes.
On
the bridge over the bypass, I asked Luca if he knew
about the Rifle Range. "We don't " said the couple
who were covidly waiting for us to vacate the bridge.
So I explained to them that there used to be a
rifle range along the fell and that is why the pub on
Greenside is called the Rifleman's Arms. They
gave me a strange sort of look but were too polite to
roll their eyes.
We
crossed the fields where Luca and Ellie played hide
and seek in the gorse bushes. We were heading
for the Cunswick summit though I strayed off the well-trod
track. "Where are you going Opa?" "I'm looking
for the Rifle Range Targets. I think they were
here," I said but could find no evidence. "Huh,"
the children sighed. "Perhaps they were here?"
I mused in another seemingly likely place. "Doh!"
grimaced the children. A bit further on I exclaimed
"Yes! This is where they must have been- look
at this circle in the ground." Well, they
had to accept that it was not a natural feature but
did it look like a rifle range target? I had to
agree it didn't.
At
the cairn the Lakeland hills could just about be seen.
Whilst
we had our butties, I asked if they knew about the mounds
down in the valley below, near Cunswick Scar. I
couldn't remember the technical name but suggested to
them that they were medieval man-made burrows where,
in the days before rabbits were everywhere, the locals
bred them for food. Could he be telling the truth?
I could see the doubt in their eyes.
Luca
asked me if I had seen the secret tarn. I hadn't
though I knew about the one on the golf course .....
......
and the larger but mostly hidden one down near the rabbit
warrens. When he said he couldn't remember where
it was I began to suspect he was getting his own back
but then he and Ellie shot off. When we next saw
them, they said they had been found it. Were they
right?
My
turn again. "This round, tiered hillock at the
end of the golf course is the mound of ancient castle.
It belonged to a Lord called Kenneth Dale and
the town that grew up below the castle was named after
him- Kendal." More doubt.
Lower
down is the track that comes up from Queen's Road to
Kettlewell Crag. "Did you know that trams used
to run up here?" Yet again, their eyes rolled.
Up with how many more of Opa's silly stories would
they have to put?
Soon
we were back at Kendal Green and it was time to say
goodbye. "How many of those stories do you think
were true?" I asked.
Well,
dear reader, how many do you think are true?
Don,
Tuesday 22nd December 2020
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