BB2328 : Don't Step On My Stepfather

Thursday 11th October 2023

Tony was gutted that he could not join us today.  It was to be a walk that would have suited him perfectly.  Unfortunately he had to withdraw when he discovered that there was a man going round to his house with a hedgecutter and Tony had to give him a hand.  He didn't say which one.  Robin's words of advice were to make sure it was his left hand as the right is essential to hold the glass.  I just hoped it wouldn't hurt.

On the other hand (ho! ho!) Ian was able to join us (Robin, Stan and me) today; first time for many years.

Our target was Benson Knott.  Tony had asked us not to step on David, his Stepfather. That might be hard to avoid.  Longtime readers (should that be singular?) with a remarkable memory might recall that in June 2011 (BB1117), accompanied by Bryan and me, Tony took his stepfather to the summit of Benson Knott.  He had had had to carry him as stepfather was in an urn that had stood on Tony's garage shelf for over two years.  The ashes were scattered. Most fell on the ground but Tony did experience some blowback thanks to the wind.

Having parked near the Kendal Rugby Club, we set off along south bank of the River Mint.  It was a pleasant morning and, after a frosty start, it was starting to warm up. The phone rang.  It was Tony.  The good news was that neither of his hands was needed.  He was intact and would like to join us.  The question was where to meet? As he was keen to revisit his stepfather we arranged to meet him at the railway bridge, close to the start of the path that climbs Benson Knott.

When we reached its eastern summit we stopped for lunch and to take in the view.

South to the Kent estuary.....

..... North-west to the Lakeland Fells .....

..... and east to the Howgills.

Next, we crossed over to the slightly lower western summit, the scene of Uncle's last known sighting.

Fortunately there was no sign remaining so it is difficult to say whether or not we stepped on any remains of him. For some unknown reason, been painted yellow. Presumably an unrelated event.

Benson Knott is a nice small hill but suffers from the fact that these days it is only legitimately accessible from the north, Appleby Road, side so with only a minor detour we had to leave by the same way we entered.

We dropped down to Mealbank, a tiny hamlet that once served the mill.

Nowadays, in addition to the cottages, there are a few commercial units (including a storage centre for Hayes Garden World) and, more importantly, a warehouse dedicated to the Ragtag Arts and Community Scrapstore  

As it was offering hot drinks we entered, had a perusal of the wide range of scraps and had, yes, a hot drink.  Well, five actually.

I was curious to know what had happened at Dodding Green. 

It looked pretty much the same as last time we had been there.  However it is no longer used by the Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, Cancelo Community although the signage would have you believe it was.  Rumour has it that it is now leased to a local restauranteur on condition that the grounds are maintained as they were.  If so, the tenant is obliging.

Do you have any comments or questions?

If so, please click on .  We look forward to hearing from you.  If you do NOT want your comments to appear on this website, please say so otherwise we will assume that we have your permission for publication in whatever responsible manner we consider appropriate.  Alternatively you can leave a comment on Facebook.

If you would like to become a BOOTboys Follower click on to let us know and you will receive automatic notification of new reports.

STATISTICS

BB2328 : Don't Step On My Stepfather

Date:

Thursday 12th October 2023

Features:

Benson Knott

Distance in miles:

7.2

Height climbed in feet:

1,069

GPX track:

BB2328.GPX

Comitibus:

Don, Ian, Robin, Stan, Tony

Home

BB04

BB05

BB06

 BB07

BB08

BB09

BB10

BB11

BB12

BB13

BB14

BB15

BB16

BB17

BB18

BB19

BB20

BB21

BB22

BB23

Archive