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Return to the fray The
months of July & August are rarely productive in terms of my
walking
activity. Family holidays and visits by grandson have combined with
poor
weather in recent years to render these two months barren. The return
to the
hills after this hiatus is always hard work as too much good food is
also a
feature of the break. So
this year I chose to restart with an outing in the Howgill Fells of
Cumbria as
it allowed me to combine a trip to pick up two canoes we had bought
with a
walk. I say Cumbria but their character is that of North Yorkshire and
the
southern half of the area is part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park
and many
people feel it should all be in the park. I stayed at a campsite in
Sedbergh that seems to be building up a rivalry to Hay
on Wye as a book village. An excellent meal and pint of Black Sheep Ale
was had
before retiring to my tent. The site has an elaborate flood warning
system of
flashing lights & alarms that were installed following a severe
flash flood
that virtually wiped out the site last year – thankfully with
no loss of life. The
plan was to do a circuit of the higher fells at the southern end of the
range
but the cloud was down to road level and my appetite for plodding
through mist
all day following a compass bearing was poor. So I went along Howgill
Lane –
notable for having very limited parking opportunities - to Carlingill
where
there is a great little walk to visit the Black Force.
The
walk starts along a good path on the south side of Carlingill (Actually
the
Northern boundary limit of National Park) and the gill winds in an out
of a
series of interlocking spurs. The sound of the M6 traffic in the Lune
Gorge is
soon lost and the sound of the bubbling stream mixes with alarm calls
of
Wheatear as I progress along the path. The ubiquitous Dipper appears
further up
and I watch his underwater antics for a few moments. The mist is still
low as I
reach the gorge narrows and the path crosses to the North just before
Black
Force. The greyness and lack of sky make the first view of the
waterfall very
atmospheric.
The
path now becomes a quad bike track that obviously heads for the summit
so I
follow it up to the minor eminence that is the top. It continues
downhill but I
check the bearing with my compass. Quad bike tracks are now very common
on the
hills and though they are much easier to follow than the tussocks
around them
they don’t always go where you expect – hence the
compass check. This one is
good and leads down the spur into a clearance that reveals the valley
below. A
small group of wild ponies are gathered on the lower slopes and they
turn to
look at me as I approach. Their chestnut hue illuminates the otherwise
grey
landscape as they note my presence then return to grazing on the short
grass
that characterises the Howgills. It
was a short walk but full of interest and it felt good to return to the
hills –
the fire of enthusiasm is thus stoked for the weeks ahead when plans
hatched
over the summer break can be fully realised.
© Keith Ratcliffe August 2008 |
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