BB2305 : Who's At Fault?

Thursday 9th February 2023

There is no point in trying to deny it.  Sometimes things do go wrong on BOOTboy adventures.  Most times, the error is cunningly omitted from the report or perhaps deflected to someone or something else.  But I have to confess.  Sometimes, indeed most times, the person at fault is me.

Perhaps I have forgotten to bring my camera or to charge my gps.  I might have missed a section of the map when I printed it out.  Or I might have misread the map or my compass and headed in the wrong direction.  Fortunately, excepting the occasional broken bones or close calls on eyes being gauged out, I can’t recall anything going so badly wrong as to seriously affect our adventures.  Until today that is.  There is no point in denying it.  Somebody was at fault.

The day started well enough.  As Tony was in Wales, seeking William Marshal, England’s Greatest Knight, there was nothing to stop us having a gentle stroll in the Sedbergh area.  We parked at the Farfield Mill and headed east alongside the Clough River.  

The sun was shining and the Howgills dominated the skyline behind us.  

Looking at the map as I type this, I see that we passed Sweet Hill Dub but I don’t recall seeing such a thing.  

Eventually we reached the Garsdale Road and its bridge across the river.

Now it is time to tell you about Adam Sedgwick, born in Dent, not far from Sedbergh, in 1785.

Leaving those minor faults aside, he became one of the founders of modern geology.  I won’t go on about his achievements as, frankly, I don’t understand them and I suspect you are already starting to get bored about this waffling and wondering what it has to do with today.  Well, quite a lot as you will soon find out.

You could say that it was my fault that, when we planned the walk, I had not realised that where we were headed was the Sedgwick Geological Trail, created in 1985 to celebrate the bi-centenary of the birth of Adam Sedgwick.

The Trail explores the local geological features caused by a major fracture in the earth’s crust some 290 million years ago during a period of mountain building which led to the landscape we now know well.

The path alongside the river bank has 12 marked points from which you can view the relevant feature described in the leaflet (assuming you knew you had to download the leaflet before you went out).  

We diligently looked for them with varying degrees of success. The intriguingly named Slaty Cleavage was one that escaped us.

Our most obvious find was Tom Croft Cave.  

How a cave came to be named after England’s fastest ever rugby forward (and not a Sedbergh boy either) is a mystery to me but then so were many of the geological features described. We saw slants and bends and kettle holes in the rocks and the marked differences where the nature of the terrain changed and the fast river left the narrow, rocky gorge and took on wider, more serene flow.

We also saw a lass sat on a rock whom we had encountered earlier.  You will no doubt have heard the expression "Whistle Whilst You Work".  But "Weave Whilst You Walk"?  Well, that is what she was doing.  Weaving on a pair of crossed sticks whilst walking along.

The guide warns about the dangers of trying to view the last few viewpoints if the river is in spate.  The bank path was steep and slippery so we retreated at the point where there is an ancient ford and headed back up the moor, past a deserted farmhouse....

..... to the road with its distinctive milestone.

We soon left it to follow field trails as far as Side Farm.  From here it was minor then major road back to Sedbergh's New Bridge across the River Rawthey.

Some of the boys were getting a bit tetchy by now, not being used to our lack of pre-lunch coffee breaks.  They were regretting that Tony wasn’t with us to demand a lunch stop.  However John used his local knowledge to produce a cunning plan. Down by the bridge, he advised, would be a good place to stop out of the bitter wind.  Not only was he right but there was the bonus of seats and tables and nobody there.

After the break, it was a gentle stroll along the Pennine Journey bridle path by the side of the river then crossing over and heading back to the Farfield Mill.  As we had used their car park for free, we thought it only right that we visited their café for coffee and cake, which we did.  However, some were not satisfied with this and demanded that we then drive into Sedbergh for beer at the Black Bull.  I can’t say I complained.

So, finally to answer the question who is, or was, at fault?  The simple answer is that Adam Sedgwick was the first to realise that he was at fault and today we all were.  Except that "fault" should have a capital F.  You see, what the Sedbergh Geological Trail features is The Dent Fault.

Don, Thursday 8th February 2023

 Comitibus:

Stuart,  Philip,  John, Don,  Mick,  TV Mike

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STATISTICS

BB2305 : Who's At Fault?

Date:

Thursday 9th February 2023

Features:

The Sedgwick Geological Trails

Distance in miles:

6.5

Height climbed in feet:

691

GPX track:

BB2305 GPX

Comitibus:

Don, John, Mick, TV Mike, Philip, Stuart

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