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GLW2112
: The Garden Of Eden?
Thursday
18th March
2021
“Come
quick,” I shouted down the stairs. Margaret
came quick, worried in case something adverse
had befallen me. “Look there,” I pointed.
Sat on the railing was a rather large
bird. We think thought it was a Kestrel.
Or maybe a Falcon or a Sparrowhawk. Whichever,
it seemed a good omen for the day.
We
parked outside the Sun at Crook. Open
for takeaway lunches on Friday. It
was only Thursday so we had come prepared
with butties. Except that I left the
rucksack behind in the car. Fortunately
we had only gone about a quarter of a mile
before we realised and I had to return to
retrieve it.
Our
objective was a circular walk on roads to
the north of Crook. The short stretch
along the B5284 is a bit hazardous for pedestrians
but once we turned north, heading towards
Ashes, the roads were very quiet.
The
views were delightful. Howgills to
the west .....
.....
and round to the Kentmere fells in the north.
Across
the fields I could see washing at New Hall
so, first time for a long time, I photographed
it for Margaret. The trouble was,
she said it was a children’s play area with
slides etc. Once we had turned left
and passed much closer to the farm we could
see who was right. We both were!
Here
the Dales Way joined us and it was quite
a climb up the road. Worth it however.
At the top we had a great view of
the Coniston fells round to the Langdales.
And a superb view of the butties we
had brought, enjoyed whilst sitting on a
mossy bank with our backs to the wall. No-one
to tell us off this time.
We
parted company with the Dales Way at Fell
Plain and dropped down towards Crook. Shortly
before reaching the main road I noticed
a house for sale sign and a small tarn.
There didn’t seem to be anyone about
so we thought we should explore.
Clearly
a house had been demolished. Margaret
thinks that it had at one time been owned
by Frankie Vaughan. I knew that he
had been an evacuee in Endmoor during WWII
but I hadn’t heard that he had a house in
Crook.
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Well,
if he had owned Rowanthwaite,
it ain’t there no more.
The
land has been cleared in readiness
for the construction of something
much grander as the Ashdown
Jones
brochure clearly shows.
It
certainly is in a splendid,
sunny position with its private
lake.
Maybe
Frankie had thought it the Garden
of Eden.
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It
is a bit too close to the road for my liking
but on the other hand, a more positive way
of looking at it is that it is very close
to the Crook Pinfold and, more importantly,
the Sun Inn. I can just imagine him
walking home on a dark night singing Give
me the moonlight.......
before creeping to find out the secret of
what was happening behind his Green
Door.
We
had a nice surprise on returning to the
car. Coming down the road to collect
her newspaper was Margaret's erstwhile Save
the Children comrade Meriel whom we had
not seen in quite a long time. Happy
reminiscences ensued.
Don,
Thursday 18th March 2021
4.4
miles, 526 feet
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