BB1909 : It Goes To Show You Never Can Tell

Thursday 7th March 2019

Chuck Berry was right.  

How can you tell?  Whom to believe?  BBC, who said it would rain all day, or the Met Office, who said it wouldn’t.  We chose the latter.  However, as both had said it would be bad in the National Park, we opted to head south to territory that none of us had explored previously.  Warton Scar.

We parked by the Old School Brewery craft ale barn on the outskirts of Warton, just under the scar.  The track up was on very greasy limestone with a bit of a drop to one side.  Care needed.  We could look back over Morecambe Bay.  What was that red tower on the horizon?

At the top was a basket which either was a Millennium Beacon or a prop left over from the Wicker Man film.  More likely the former as, on a clearer day, it would be a fine viewpoint and the flames could be seen for miles.  But…. you never can tell!

Our journey north was a little off-piste at times and frequented by trees that were roped off with white plastic strips and several having red markers.  Was it to signify those to be felled?  Or something else?  They couldn’t have been for an event as there were no tracks on the ground.  Well, actually, in this instance it would be wrong to say you never can tell- there was a sign telling us.  There was to be an event.  An Authorised Motorcycle Event on Saturday and Sunday.  They were track markers.

Soon Leighton Hall came into view- the one time family home of the legendary furniture makers- Gillows of Lancaster.

In a field at the top of the hill was a mound which seemed to have stone foundations.

Stan climbed up then pointed out that there were standing stones surrounding the field.

It was a prehistoric burial mound.  Or was it?  We couldn’t tell though Uncle Google later revealed that the mound was the remains of an old summer house and the standing stones were not thought to be a prehistoric man-made circle. Though there is some doubt about that.  It just goes to show….!

Just below is the hamlet Yealand Conyers.  Its hall is well known to Stan and I and other former employees of Provincial Insurance and its offshoots.

Yealand Manor had been our Training Centre.  That was a long time ago as you can tell from the photos of the time, taken from the old company newspaper that was recently given to me by a former colleague.

Further on we made a detour to Deepdale Pond.  On the map it looks almost round and located in a circular, wooded depression some 100 feet lower than the main path.  It turned out to be a disappointment.  It was largely overgrown with little of the pond to be seen.  It goes to show that you never can tell from a map.

We continued north for quite some distance, first by path then by road, eventually reaching the Fell End Holiday Park.  The map showed a public footpath going through the site but it was rather tricky to find the actual way through and into the woods.  I tried to locate it using the gps on my phone but it froze – something it kept doing regularly on this outing.  You could tell I was becoming seriously unimpressed with the Outdoor Map Navigator app.

We emerged from the woods to stop for lunch, looking over to Farleton Knott, our target last time out- BB1908 .

Nearby was Beetham Hall where there could be seen several cars parked and puffs of smoke coming out of a chimney.  It’s a crematorium.  Who could tell what was burning?

On reaching Beetham, John had to be punished.  I can’t tell you the nature of his offences but he was sentenced to a period in the stocks which he, strangely, seemed to enjoy.

After his release we made our way through the Dallam Tower Deer Park, .....

.....past the fine hall.....

..... and back to where we had left the other car.  

We had to return to Warton to collect John’s car and then, for some strange reason, found ourselves in the Malt Shovel Inn.  Believe or not, in the corner there was a juke box playing Chuck Berry.  Yes, the record was “It goes to show you never can tell”.  To the amazement of the few other folk in the bar, this caused us to burst into song with a new verse dedicated to one of our members who, for reasons that will quickly become apparent, was unable to join us today:

It goes to show that, sometimes, you really can tell!

Don, Thursday, 7th March 2019

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Comitibus:  John, Stan, Mike B, Don

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If you want to know which BOOTboys reports refer to having visited any particular Wainwright or certain other hills, see BOOTboys Hill Log.  Warning- it might not be fully up-to-date!

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