Length : 75 miles
Started : 9th August 2009
Finished : 14th August 2009
Companions : (first mile only) Julie Farrell, Simon Farrell
Guide : The Furness Way - Paul Hannon (Hillside Publications)
We jump five years to this one but the back story is better told in the next entry. Suffice to say that by this time I was feeling the need to do an LMDP in one go but there was now an obstacle to such a plan in the lovely shape of our son Simon (born Nov 2007).
I squared the circle by choosing The Furness Way which mainly keeps within reasonable distance of the train line back to the starting point at Arnside. We would set up base camp there by renting out a flat for a week and Julie’s mum and brother would keep her and Simon company while I (and possibly others ) did the walk in return for the free holiday. We rented out Bay House on Arnside’s main street for a week and I booked the accommodation for myself at the appropriate points apart from the end of Day Two where the proximity to a train station made it easy to return to Arnside for the night. Then at more or less the last minute Julie’s family pulled out; I’m not going to discuss this further on a blog but let’s just say I wasn’t impressed.
Julie said it was OK, she’d be able to cope so we went with the original plan. Bay House turned out to be very nice indeed so that was one less worry. We went up Saturday afternoon. The next day I was setting out to do the 16 mile first stretch (I was following the plan in the book exactly) to Crosthwaite. I thought there was no point getting there too early so I delayed the start until 10.30 and spent a bit more time with Julie and Simon.
A problem immediately presented itself. I couldn’t fit everything into my haversack even though I was staying only one night away initially. I had brought the big framed rucksack (for days 3 to 6 ) I’d originally bought from Michael Smithson which hadn’t been used since 1987 but now found one of the pins that allowed you to fasten the pack to the frame had disappeared, perhaps rotted away. We eventually managed to use the waist belt to secure it after much trial and error to stop it being too lopsided. Even so it was far from comfortable.
The first mile is on a tarmac road out of Arnside so Julie and Simon (in his pram) came with me on the first mile to Black Dyke until they could go no further. They were my only companions, earlier interest from others having melted away. Having waved them goodbye I headed north. I arrived at Milnthorpe around lunchtime and had a breakfast barm and cup of tea there. From there it was mainly a road walk as far as Sizergh Castle which became tedious on a humid day with the pack straps chafing my collar bone. I had a decent though over-priced salad at the tea room there and the walk got better from there passing Helsington church and by-passing Brigsteer. Even so I was pretty exhausted by the time I got to my B & B at Crosthwaite House (very nice though the room was tiny) and crashed out on the bed for a couple of hours. The B & B didn’t do evening meals so I had to go to the nearby pub/restaurant The Punch Bowl where I had an even more pricey, though good quality, dinner.
The next day it was raining steadily and the landlord, a nice bloke who was the only person I met who’d heard of the Furness Way, gave me a depressing but entirely accurate weather forecast. Nevertheless I set out with just water and a couple of Mars Bars to get me through until Lindale some miles on. I made good progress as far as Whitbarrow Scar , first visited on an early walk with Julie in 1996, where I got the reception to speak to her on the phone but there were no views at all. I then made very slow progress down the steep limestone path to Witherslack where I had to take the pack off and drag it behind me because it was upsetting my balance and getting caught in the trees. I had what passed for lunch near Witherslack supplemented by some fallen apples I found on the path.
Although the rain had stopped things got much worse after that. I had just passed a farm in the Winster Valley when a bloke with three dogs (large black whippets I think) was heading towards me. They all ran towards me none of them very friendly seeming and one bit me just behind the knee. Fortunately I was somewhat protected by wearing over trousers but it still hurt. The bloke was apologetic to a point even offering to have the dog put down but the problem was they all looked identical and neither of us could identify the guilty party. I asked him to look at the damage and he said it hadn’t quite broken the skin so we shook hands and left it at that. My trials were not yet over. A little further on there were free range pigs in the fields I passed through though they didn’t come near me. Once past them I had to cross Newton Fell where the path was utterly concealed by thick bracken at its summer height. This was a really desperate struggle where at one point I nearly went face first into a rock. I was therefore utterly exhausted by the time I got to Lindale where the pub was shut during the day. This meant a steep descent off route to the post office and consequent re-ascent to continue.
The rest of the route over Hampsfell to Cartmel was actually pleasant. Cartmel too looked attractive but the bus to Grange-over-Sands left almost immediately so I got on that and caught the train back to Arnside. That wasn’t the end of my trials. Julie looked at my wound and said it had been bleeding and I needed to get a tetanus as well as castigating me for not nailing the owner’s backside to the wall. I didn’t know whether the nearest A & E was Kendal or Lancaster but I thought if I went to the latter I could call on my friends Chris and Helen who lived nearby and perhaps borrow a better rucksack from them. Unfortunately I couldn’t reach either of them by phone – it later transpired Chris was in Majorca- so on the advice of a woman in the pub next door I went to Kendal instead. It turned out to be bad advice; Kendal didn’t have an A & E at all so it was back down the M6 to Lancaster and a testing wait for a shot and a telling off for not washing the wound earlier. It was nearly ten o clock by the time I got back to Arnside.
Having picked up some bus timetables I decided to revise my plans. I hadn’t paid any deposit on the next place I was due to stay at, in Lowick where I was going to stay two nights because it was connected by bus to the following day’s terminus, Coniston. However the same bus went on into Ulverston another station on the line so it was actually feasible to return to Arnside for the next two nights. I got Julie to cancel the bookings on the grounds I had swine flu (a bit naughty I know). This had three advantages, one, it was a bit cheaper, two, it gave me a bit more time with the family and three, I only needed the small haversack for the next two days walking. Then I would be able to buy a new larger one, for the last two days walking – staying in Eskdale was unavoidable- in Coniston.
Next day I took the train to Grange then the bus into Cartmel where I bought my sandwiches from a delicatessen there. It was a much nicer day and it felt heavenly to be free of the big pack. Most of the route was familiar as it coincided with an early stage of the next LMDP we’ll be discussing and I got to Greenodd in very good time after lunching at Bigland Tarn. The onward walk up the Crake valley was very easy and I ended up killing some time at a nice pub, the Royal Oak which was still open despite a power cut and in the church porch during a heavy shower. I got the bus back to Ulverston and the train from there to Arnside.
Day Four took me to Coniston through hillier territory. I had to get up much earlier to take the 8.00 train to Ulverston to connect with the bus to Lowick. When I first got up around 7 am I noticed a girl sitting on Arnside Pier looking out across the bay which struck me as unusual. Then she got on the same train and I saw her yet again in the bakers at Ulverston but where she went on to after that I’ve no idea. That was an enjoyable days walk with superb views over the lake to the mountains, tasty bilberries and one of Wainwright’s Outlying Fells, Top O’ Selside being conquered. Also notable were a farmer’s concern that I might get sprayed with weedkiller (I wasn’t heading for the danger zone) and a little kid bawling me out for exploring the outside of the holiday cottage where he was staying. I got to Coniston in plenty of time to get myself a new rucksack and something to eat before the bus back to Ulverston.
Day Five started the same way without the mystery girl but now I had the new pack for I was staying overnight at The Woolpack Inn in Eskdale. I knew this would be a tougher proposition as it involved crossing the intermediate Duddon Valley and. Therefore, a second ascent. It was the nicest day of the six and the ascent of Walna Scar straight off the bus was tough. When I got to the top I met a couple who had cycled up from the other side (the girl was very fetching) and they reassured me that the Newfield Head pub would be open when I got down to the valley bottom. They were right and I had a couple of drinks there before the climb out on the other side of the valley. Near the river I picked up a thick branch and took it with me as far as the isolated farm of Grassguards where I’d heard the dogs were a bit aggressive; I wasn’t taking any chances. While they did seem fierce they stayed behind their fence so I didn’t have to use it. From there the climb across the shoulder of Harter Fell was quite hard going through marshy de-forested ground but the view from the top across to the Scafells was fantastic.
I arrived at The Woolpack around five and checked in. It was a strange place, totally given over to promoting real ale with the accommodation side seeming almost an afterthought. The girl who checked me in was insistent that I be in the dining room for 7. I obeyed and then found that I appeared to be the only guest that night. The food wasn’t bad but incongruously elaborate and expensive for such a place. They were so bloody purist they didn’t do shandies except those cod-Victorian bottled ones. Afterwards I went for a short walk up the valley past the youth hostel then in the very spartan bar where the landlord was talking with some climbing bores so I didn’t linger.
After a serviceable breakfast I was happy to check out and get started on the final day to Ravenglass. It was a straight reversal of the first day’s walk on the second youth hostelling holiday with the school back in 1978. It was a lovely morning the walking being quite easy so I made the recommended detour to see the impressive Taylorgill Force. A bit further on, reaching Eskdale Green station on the steam railway I had the chance to go to a shop but it looked a mile off route so I decided to press on over Muncaster Fell. I duly reached the top and could see Ravenglass down below; this was also the point where the mobile signal returned and I could ring Julie. I then went on the long descent to Muncaster Castle where I went in the tea shop.
There were just a couple of miles left. I went into the toilets and put some swimming trunks on under my trousers, the plan being to strip off and run into the sea at Ravenglass hoping someone would be around to take a funny picture. Unfortunately it now began to rain heavily. Just outside the estate there is a long pasture where I went slightly astray before finding the stile and dropping down to the Roman remains of Walls Castle. When I finally got to the coast there was no one around at all so my celebration took the form of a meal in The Ratty Arms instead, the best, and most reasonably priced, of the walk . There was just the train ride back to Arnside with a change at Barrow left and a (very hot) Indian takeaway from Milnthorpe that evening with Julie.
Despite the dog and rucksack mishaps it had been a very enjoyable experience.
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