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BB1902
: Curling or Bowling?
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Tuesday
8th January 2019
Have
you ever tried Curling?
No, not your hair, silly!
Curling is the game that’s like bowls but played on ice with
big stones.
There is a new curling arena at The
Flower Bowl near Preston.
It seemed like a good idea
for our seasonal get-together.
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We
gathered in the Warehouse Café at the
Brewery in Kendal.
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An early start
was not required so those who wanted coffee and cakes before setting
off could indulge.
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Sadly John PL’s knees don’t
let him wander far these days, so we left him taking
a Spanish class while the other twelve of us set off
along Captain French Lane and up our most severe climb
of the day onto Bowling Fell.
Have
you ever tried Bowling? It is the game that’s like curling but played on grass with
big balls.
The
flat area is thought to have been a bowling green at
one time but not no more.
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This is the site
of the original Kendal Castle, a motte and bailey construction-
Castle Howe, the mound for which is now topped with
a huge “needle” dedicated to the Glorious Revolution
of 1688.
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Shortly
afterwards, our numbers were augmented by Philip who’d
had the pleasure of a dental visit. Our next stop
was Mount Pleasant. No, not the Royal Mail sorting
office in Islington but a quiet little street, now a
cul-de-sac where the wall beside a gate post has some
remarkable carvings.
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Such a secret has this been
that none of our life-long Kendalians knew anything
about it.
Carved by John
Watson, who
in 1949 became the founding editor of the K Shoes in-house
magazine, are his face and those of his four children.
He seems to have had an "interesting"
war. He was taken prisoner near Dunkirk. After
several abortive attempts to escape, he was moved to
Colditz where he forged German documents and passports
for his fellow inmates to use when escaping.
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Next,
we crossed over into Serpentine Woods to find the location
of the “One o’Clock Gun” that once upon a time stood
in a clearing and boomed over Kendal at the appointed
hour to tell the workers to eat their butties. Or
perhaps to stop eating them and get back on the job,
I’m not sure which.
Emerging
from the woods onto Kendal Fell (which is also the Kendal
golf course), we followed an old track that I had walked
many a time when I lived in that area but hadn’t known
that it was called “The Tram”. Logically, as it
had been the tramway to the quarry at Kettlewell Crag.
Arriving
at the Crag, Stan tried to find the entrance
to the quarry tunnels that he remembered from exploring
as a child. They are now blocked off so we couldn’t
replicate his experiences. Instead, we climbed
to the summit of Helsfell Nab, all of another 50 feet
up! James found a golf ball which he presented
to Philip, much to the latter’s delight as it seemed
to be a rather fine one.
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The
old Rifle Range led us up to the northern summit of
the Scout Scar range, the Cunswick Fell cairn. Tony
and Pete fired the noon day gun and were amazed that we allowed them to eat their
lunch there and then. We were in
a kind, seasonal mood.
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Our
route now was relentlessly to the south, along the length
of Cunswick Scar to the radio mast and then on to Scout
Scar, pausing at the Mushroom for the obligatory Comitibus
team picture before eventually passing over Helsington
Barrows to the Brigsteer Road where Bryan
had to say farewell.
Inevitably
at Helsington Church we entered to view the remarkable
memorial mural painted after the first world war by
Marion de Saumarez.
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It
was downhill thereafter; well, mostly. From Cinderbarrow
onwards we were on tarmac. I didn’t recall it
as undulating and now as I sit at my computer I can
see that it only varies by 30 feet or so but it felt
rather more than that at the time.
The walk concluded
at the Hare & Hounds in Levens where, amidst beer
& pizza celebrations, we were joined by Johns PL
& Hn plus Stephen B & Robert M.
Although
cold and windy, the sun had shone on us for most of
the day. Visibility had been pretty good so we
had had he chance to see the panorama from
Morecambe Bay, round the Lakeland hills, the Howgills
and further round till Morecambe Bay again was reached
again.
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Whether many of the group saw all this,
I am not so sure. Inevitably with the meeting-up
of a lot of old and new friends, much of the outing
was spent in deep discussion and reminiscing.
One
thing that was not discussed was curling. "What
had happened to it?" I hear you ask. Well, we owe
the curling people a big thank you. They had told
me that they needed to cancel our visit in order for
essential maintenance to take place because the ice
was melting. As a result
we had a splendid day on the Scars and a very enjoyable
session in the Hare & Hounds (apart from the occasional
banged head on the very low ceiling). The only
ice I saw was the ice cream in my pudding and the only
curling in which I indulged was of the “up” variety
later on the sofa, snoring my head off .
Don,
Tuesday 8th January 2019
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