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BB1934
: The Hound of the Howgills
Thursday
17th October 2019
We
didn’t meet many dogs today. I remember
a Collie at a farm (why is it that farm
collies don’t know when to stop barking?),
a very docile Jack Russell, a nice Westie
but what I shall always remember is the
Hound of the Howgills.
That’s
the clue to where we went. The Howgills.
Another week of rapidly changing weather
reports ultimately led us to Sedbergh as
the best bet.
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Without
too much thought being given to an initial
target we set off from near Lockbank Farm
to Settlebeck Gill where we started the
serious business of the climb up the Dales
High Way. You could tell that Stan
hadn't been out for some time by the razor
sharp crease in his trouser legs.
When
we reached the ridge, he said something
to the effect of “Hang on boys, we’ve done
this wrong. We need to go back to
Winder if we are going to do the ridge properly.”
We
could see his point so turned left and went
the extra mile, to and from Winder, adding
not just distance but a hundred foot climb
that would not have been necessary had we
gone there directly.
Arant
Haw, Calders and The Calf followed in reasonably
steady progression.
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I
don't understand those who don't like the
Howgills. Admittedly the terrain underfoot
is simple moorland but the folds of the
sides of the hills are fascinating. Hence
their nickname- the sleeping elephants.
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Although
the day was fine, there was a fearsomely
cold wind blowing so we decided that we
had achieved our objective and dropped down
White Fell to get out of the wind and eventually
find the shelter of Long Rigg beck.
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However
first we had to cross the beck which was
no easy matter given the quantity of rain
deposited recently.
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Time
at last for lunch. Refuelled, we continue
down the valley and across fields. In
the distance we could see the silent and
empty old railway viaduct and the nosiy
and busy modern M6.
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At
the Roman Road we headed south, stopping
at the hamlet of Howgill as some had never
previously seen its neat little church.
It was there we learned about the
Hound. This was no ordinary hound.
It was a Bloodhound. Or to be
more precise it is The Bloodhound.
It doesn’t have four legs. It
has four wheels. And plans are afoot
for it to attempt to be the first wheeled
vehicle to break the 1,000 miles per hour
barrier.
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The
tale of the Hound was related to us by a
man we had seen earlier in the day striding
the fells in his tee-shirt whilst we were
all muffled up against the wind. He
was ex-army and now in a pretty senior position
in the RAF with a propensity to flying upside
down over the Howgils. He is also
part of the team that is developing the
vehicle so that his RAF pal (already the
world’s fastest driver) Andy Green can smash
that record. It was a fascinating
discussion and you can find out much more
about the attempt at BBC’s item Bloodhound:
Land speed record car is relaunched.
Anything
after that was likely to be an anti-climax
but not without humour. We made our
way along the undulating road back to Sedbergh
to park outside a salon where Appoiniments
Can Be Mad. We are mad enough already
so chose instead a different sort of appoiniment
at the Black Bull.
Don,
Thursday 17th October 2019
Afternote:
On the way home we stopped at the
tiny St
Gregory's Church
to see its wonderful stained glass windows.
Rainy
Day Rambling Terry Style
Whilst
the BOOTboys
were Rainy
Day Rambling
last week, Terry was enjoying life in the
Outer Hebrides. He reports:
It
was a solo ramble for me today. Up on the cliffs with spectacular highs and
lows it could only be accompanied by Led Zeps Ramble
On !
Make
sure you watch his short video by clicking
on either of the above pictures. There
will be more aboout Terry's expedition in
our next report.
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