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GLW2124
: Happy Birthday Stephen
Tuesday
5th September 2021
Tomorrow
is Stephen’s birthday.
To
celebrate, he and Julia returned
to the Black Swan at Ravenstonedale
where we joined them.
To
be more precise, we joined them
at Sedbergh for a walk that
comprised some of last week’s
BOOTboys
outing: BB2132
: Akay and the Pepperpot.
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Starting
from the Old Grammar School car park, we
made our way through the grounds of Sedbergh
School proper.
Lots
of doting parents were dropping off their
young for the start of their new academic
year. Our route led us out and down
to the River Rawthey at Birks where we crossed
the footbridge to return to Sedbergh via
Millthrop.
I
hadn’t realised that Stephen and Julia had
lived there when they first moved up to
Cumbria. One house in particular had
a magnificent display of flowers- not a
one year fluke as Google Earth shows it
similarly festooned in 2016.
We
crossed fields then school grounds to reach
the east end of the Main Street. This has
really gone up market- maybe Lockdown inspired
the shop keepers to get the paint brushes
out. It certainly looked a lot better
and more prosperous than in recent years.
And the ice cream was good!
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Our
room at the Black Swan could best
be described as bijou. It
is a good job there were no
cats needing swinging. And as for the shower-
it needed a Danger, Hot Water
sign!
These
minor points were soon forgotten
when sipping Stephen’s celebratory
champagne, sat outside in the
evening sun.
Dinner
was up to the usual Black Swan
standard.
Then
there was the ghost walk. Betty
(dog) needed exercise so we
set off up through the village.
Julia knew a short cut
through the graveyard. It
was dark and the battery on
my phone ran out so I had no
light from that.
Spooky!
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Monday
6th September 2021
Breakfast
was just as good. We bade Stephen
Happy Birthday and then adieu. Our mission
now was to explore one of the Cumbria Wildlife
Trust’s walks through Smardale. The
chatty lady at the information hut told
us the life stories of the men who built
the now disused railways plus those of several
other Victorian Eminents whose names I forget.
Meanwhile the finches and tits were
scoffing the nuts but the famed red squirrels
failed to make an appearance.
The
first hundred yards of the old railway track
were interesting, as much as anything for
the variety of wild flowers.
However
soon the densely tree-lined path seemed
rather long. Eventually, somewhat
to our relief, we came out into the open
and ahead of us was the viaduct.
I
am sure that when I was last here with the
BOOTboys the viaduct was closed but Jamie
remembers crossing it in 2006 on bike.
It
is quite a structure- an inspiration for
the viaduct in the Harry Potter films according
to the info-lady.
Rather
than descend here to see it from below,
we decided to cross the viaduct and continue
along the track until we could drop down
to an old pack horse bridge.
Once
across we needed a decision. Should
we head downstream to see the viaduct from
below then return along the wooded train
bed or climb onto the open moor and return
in the open. We chose the latter,
wouldn’t you? It still gave us a good
distant view of the viaduct.
The
heather on the moor was past its best and
the distant views were not as clear as we
might have liked but it certainly made a
very pleasant contrast to the first part
of the walk.
Our
drive home was via some remarkably narrow
lanes with few passing places plus the novelty
of a ford, albeit with only a disappointing
trickle of water to cross. Crosby Garret
seemed an interesting little village but
we didn’t stop to explore.
After
crossing another open moorland we reached Orton
where a decision had to be made. Should
we stop at the chocolate shop? You
might be surprised to learn that the answer
was no. We should head for home, which
we did then promptly fell asleep in the
conservatory. A fine end to an enjoyable
short break.
Don,
Monday 6th September 2021
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