|
Send
'er Down, Hughie!
Thursday
22nd
November 2012
The
former guardian of 10,000 jumbucks, our
cobber James returned this morning from a sheep shearer's
shindig in Manchester to greet us with the hitherto
unheard epigram:
Send 'er Down, Hughie!
When
Stan and I asked him what he meant, he explained that
it was an aboriginal incantation to Hughie, the Australian
God of Celestial Effluence,
requesting some serious action in the liquid sunshine
distribution department.
He
was not going to be disappointed. Stan, freshly
returned from European sunnier climes, might have felt
differently. Indeed, we had progressively moderated
our plans through the week as the forecast deteriorated
from a sunny day to torrential rain with 50 mph winds.
And that was in Kendal, not on the hills!
As
is often the case in such circumstances, we fell back
on a variation of an old favourite, Scout Scar.
|
Lancaster-
Kendal canal awaiting being filled
|
The
filled River Kent at Hawes Lane Bridge
|
It
wasn't too bad at first as we made our way across the
River Kent and up onto Helsington Barrows but there
it started to blow and rain somewhat more seriously.
Looking
back to Natland with Helm behind
Rather than visit the Mushroom shelter, we opted
to drop down the steep path to Barrowfield then through
woods and fields to Underbarrow,
|
Bird
table at Prizetl
A
house coveted by James
|
The
Barrowfield descent
A
house not coveted by James
|
"I
could eat a horse and chase its jockey", said James,
meaning he was hungry, so into the Punchbowl we ventured.
It is a nice, warm, old-fashioned pub that was empty.
|
The
Underbarrow Punchbowl
|
The landlord, on seeing customers enter, thought
that we must want rock music played loudly so that we
needn't engage in conversation.
Why do publicans suppose
we can't socialise without mindless audio wallpaper?
To be fair, after James suggested that it was
as noisy as a dunny in a storm, he did turn it right
down then served us some decent tucker: soup and scampi
& chips, washed down, naturally, with some bonza
amber fluid.
|
Comitibus
: The
Punchbowl, Underbarrow
An
interesting feature inside the Punchbowl is a couple
of models of how Britons used to defend themselves against
the onslaughts of Hughie before the days of St Paramo
and Lord Rohan. It is believed that they date
from the year WD40.
Defence
against Hughie
It
would have been very tempting to linger longer but we were
only half way round our course. The rain was pouring
harder. James tried to motivate us with encouragements
like "Come on you Poms, you're as slow as a wet
weekend". Whatever that means.
|
James
examines a Morgan
|
Thorns
Villa
|
Old
Hughie was trying harder and harder as we headed along
to Brigsteer.
The
new Brigsteer Village Hall
At
this point, we thought we might be able to really
upset Tony with a report that today had been a three
pub walk but the Wheatsheaf was closed and for sale.
|
The
closed Wheatsheaf, Brigsteer
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We
followed the bridle path to Wells Garth and beyond,
opting not to visit Helsington Church having been there several times this year (see in particular
BB1203).
Furthermore we could hardly see it for the rain.
It
was little better at Sizergh Castle and any thought
of a second stop was dashed as the Strickland Arms had
run out of customers and closed until evening. This
was probably just as well as we were pretty wet through
and it would have been difficult to motivate ourselves
to leave, no matter how much we might be accused of
having a kangaroo loose in the top pocket.
|
If
we thought it had been bad so far, Hughie had sent for
reinforcements and was out with all his pals.
I can't remember a BOOTboys
outing with such prolonged heavy rain. The roads were
awash, the paths now rivers. I have never seen
these local trails that bad.
|
Sandbags
to no avail
Comitibus
: The
Dripping End!
|
Wading
the road
Much
bedraggled, we arrived back in Natland.
James,
still chuckling about how
Hughie had fulfilled his request to send down the celestial
effluence, parted with this
Assie ocker ode.
Lob
In, You Lot of Limeys
My Rippo Rellie Roots
Holy
Dooley, Waggin' Schooly
Fair
Dinkum Day, You Beauts
Don,
Thursday 22nd November 2012
|
Post
Script: Under New Management
My
spies inform me that The Wheatsheaf at Brigsteer has
been bought by Individual Inns who have the Masons Arms
at Strawberry Bank and others. It is expected to be
reopening next year.
It
is rumoured that they have also bought the bunk barn
next door to Helsington Church. It will be interesting
to see what develops there.
STATISTICS:
|
BB1238
|
Thursday
22nd November
|
| Distance
in miles:
|
13.2
(Garmin)
|
| Height
climbed in feet:
|
1,557
(Memory Map / OS)
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| Wainwrights:
|
-
|
| Other
Features:
|
Helsington
Barrows
|
| Comitibus:
|
Don,
James, Stan
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