BB2224 : Where's Harry?

Thursday 11th August 2022

I asked the boys if they wanted to see a Sturgeon Moon this week.  “No,” Tony shrieked in horror.  “There is no way I am going north of the border to see any part of Nicola.”  I could hear Robin chortling in the background.  Stan just smiled.

I think Tony had misunderstood.  I had meant having a night walk, partly to keep out of the heat of the day and partly to see this month’s full moon, one which the Americans call a Sturgeon Moon and which is also a Supermoon.  

Anyway, they decided they wanted to be tucked up tight in bed or other lame excuses and opted instead for a daytime grilling.  

Consequently, I tried to find them a woodland walk that would at least provide a bit of shade and hopefully a cooler environment.  The Warton Crag area seemed to fit the bill with an extra item of interest, namely to see if we could find Harry Hest or at least the hole named after him.

A 9 a.m. start meant that there was no trouble getting spaces in the public car park adjacent to the Old School Brewery.  

As we headed north through the old village, the sun was already hot but fortunately still sufficiently in the east to enable us to walk in the shade (no blues on parade).  

At the north end I found what I had hoped for- a path that led through the woods to save this being a road slog.  It took us past a rather fine lime kiln to emerge at Yealand Manor - a building well familiar to three of us, having been at one time the training school for Provincial Insurance.

Here we branched left to the top of the rise where there is the strange field that superficially seems to have an ancient stone structure on a mound, surrounded at a distance by large standing stones.  A closer examination showed bricks peeping through the stones reinforcing my view that it was in reality a folly.

Some very convenient benches enabled us to pause a while, still in shade, looking down on the sun drenched Leighton Hall .....

..... and over to the distant Lakeland Hills.   

A tree lined path brought us down to the road.  Horses were very sensibly using the shade.....

..... as were the sheep.

After leaving the road, we soon had a problem.  The path on the ground didn’t correspond with that on the map and it took a bit of faffing about to resolve the matter.  What was slightly disconcerting was the regular sound of shot guns though, had we thought about it, it was a day too early for the glorious 12th!

Eventually we emerged at Crag Foot at the edge of Leighton Moss.  

The road we then took that climbs around the base of the Warton Crag is part of the Lancashire Coastal Way but we soon left it to join the interestingly named track: Occupation Road.  Why it should be so called, I haven’t yet discovered. Maybe Harry knew.

To reach the summit we took a path which is tentatively marked on the map but led us through a bracken forest.  Even 6 foot 4 Robin vanished at times.  There was no chance of seeing Harry.  

Eventually we emerged the open and a short easy climb to the view point rock where a couple kindly made room so we could all sit and enjoy the view.  Tony got stuck into an enormous meat pie.  As you might have gathered it was now noon.

Nearby is the "Wicker Man" beacon and then the trig point.  Now to try and find Harry.  A man appeared.  Was it Harry?  Actually I didn’t ask his name but we did wonder why he was carrying a battery powered hedge trimmer.  His explanation was simple.  He was cutting the vegetation that had overgrown the footpath.  We set off down the path he had cleared.  There were many other options but this was the only one that had been cleared.  

Unfortunately, websites that you would think would be authorative seemed rather vague as to the location of Harry's hideaway- only "pinpointing" it to the nearest 100 yards.  One however was more precise and we seemed to be heading in the right direction.  The path went steeply down the hill and then passed along under a small cliff.  I have to confess I was rather nervy as there was quite a steep drop to the side.  Stan and Robin of course had no such fears.

We didn’t find Harry or the hole in which Jacobites may have hidden but we couldn't waste any more time looking for him.  We had another person to seek, Stephen.  This person we did know where to find but we were a bit behind schedule.  Fortunately, our navigation to him was perfect- there he was exactly where we anticipated.  In the bar at the Old School Brewery.  

Cheers!

Don, Thursday 11th August 2022
Thanks to Tony for some of the pictures

Comitibus: Don, Tony, Robin, Stan

Another Septuagenarian BOOTboy

Bryan celebrated his 70th birthday this week in typical style.  Staying in Eskdale, he took his family (age range 7 to 70) up Scafell Pike in under three hours.  On Wednesday he got up at 5 a.m. to watch the sun rise over the Crinkles.  He expressed surprise that no one had wanted to join him on that outing.

Congratulations, Bryan, and welcome to the club!

Letter From America

John B, our North America correspondent, writes in connection with the BB2223 theme:

I hadn’t checked your posts recently [Shame on you!], but enjoyed your current one [Hurrah- you are forgiven!].  Here is my offering of a couple of Beatles songs for you [Thanks, John]:  

A Hard Day's Night and Help!

You need to click on the links to discover what he really meant!

Musical Interlude

If you want to know more about a Super Moon, here is a novel, musical explanation.

Click on the album cover to hear the offering though it is perhaps better avoided if you are easily offended.

Do you have any comments or questions?

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STATISTICS

BB2224 : Where's Harry?

Date:

Thursday 11th August 2022

Features:

Warton Crags

Distance in miles:

6.4

Height climbed in feet:

1,164

GPX track:

BB2224 GPX

Comitibus:

Don, Robin, Stan, Tony

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