Grizzly and Allen were sitting
quietly watching the birds feeding in the garden, when Shaun came
trotting in with Little Eric who had hitched a ride on his back.
"Good news", he announced.
"Dad has arranged to walk with Uncle Bob."
"Where to", asked Grizzly.
"We are climbing Middleton
Fell. I know we have done it before, but Uncle Bob has never
climbed it, and at least Little Eric will bag the summits."
"Fine!", exclaimed Allen,
"whatever, it will be great to be out."
"Can't wait", cried
Tetley, who had wandered in during these exchanges.
The Walk
It had been decided to make this a
linear walk, so we met Uncle Bob at Middleton Head, on what was
one of the hottest days this year. Leaving Dad's car here we
decamped to Uncle Bob's car and he drove use to Barbon, our start
point. We parked opposite the church in this pretty village.
Yes, the eagle eyed among you, will
have guessed from the time on the clock that this photograph was
not taken today. It was in fact taken in December 2005, when Dad
was out with Uncle Brian and our pals Fraser, Goran and Hilton
went along too. Here they pose in the churchyard.
On another day Dad took Dougal,
Beatrice, Citroen & Benedick, and here they are sitting on a
wall.
There is a large house opposite the
church, where Mr & Mrs Williamson live. Dad calls here quite
often to get his supplies of homemade chutney and marmalade. The
preserves are quite delicious, and what is wonderful too, is that
Mr Williamson gives all his profits to charity.
Just beyond the church is the wide
drive to Barbon Manor. We followed this for a while before, where
it bends right, continuing ahead across the pasture to Eskholme
passing some fabulous bluebell woods - a quite wonderful sight.
Climbing right to the wall we
gained the open fell, pausing to look back over the pastoral
scene to Yewtree Farm
The whole hill covers a vast area
and is known as Middleton Fell. However it has three distinct
summits and we were to visit all three today. A clear path now
climbed steeply to the first top Eskholme Pike. Uncle Bob and Dad
took it at a steady pace, as it was already very warm. A cairn
marks the summit.
Shaun, who had scampered up to the
top, while the rest of us settled together, called out "take
our picture Dad."
There were good views of the Lune
Valley and far below us we could see the village of Barbon, where
we had set off from.
In the distance ahead and left we
could see just see a tall cairn. "That's Castle Knott our
next objective", said Allen.
"Yes you're right",
agreed Tetley.
The clear track climbed steadily up
with a final steeper section to reach it. Views of Dentdale could
now be seen although the visibility was rather hazy. The cairn
here is even more impressive and we could not resist climbing on
to it. Allen used the rope he carries to help Little Eric climb
up. As you can see Shaun yet again had to be on the top!!
Settled once more in the rucksack,
Dad and Uncle Bob set off for the final summit and highest point
on Middleton Fell, called Calf Top. First there was a descent of
about 200ft to the depression between the two. From the lowest
point it was a steady climb overall of about 400ft. A wall corner
was reached, with a cairn marking the route too.
From here you can see that there
was just a short final ascent to the trig point marking the
highest point on the Middleton Fell massive.
It may look that Dad's camera lens
is dirty, but in fact the black spots were flies that were
swarming round the summit!! Uncle Bob sensibly left Dad and us to
it and retreated to a safe distance away from them. Looking north
in the valley is the town of Sedbergh, backed by the Howgill
Fells. Today it was not very clear, but here is a shot that Dad
took in April 2006, when he climbed this fell with Uncle Eric.
The long descent followed the rim
of the fell over Barkin Top. Then passing above Combe Top and
over Long Bank. Here the path turned away west and down
eventually to Fellside. At Barkin Top there was suddenly a flash
of lightening and big rumble of thunder, and to our right the sky
was as black as night and rain could clearly be seen falling in
the distance. More claps of thunder followed at regular intervals
and we noted that the storm was heading our way (north). Luckily
we kept ahead of it and when we turned west actually headed out
of it. We felt sorry for the gentleman who we passed heading up
the fell as he was certain to get caught in the storm. After a
while Dad and Uncle Bob stopped for a sandwich and we had our
picnic too. We felt some light rain coming down, but then after
we had walked on a few hundred yards we left it behind. The storm
rumbled on to the east and it was still going when we got to the
car. We were all very glad not to have been caught in it.
As we approached Fellside there
were quite a few sheep about, one of which had this cover tied
over its face. There was obviously a good reason, but Dad and
Uncle Bob were at a loss to explain why.
From Fellside we had to walk to
Hollins. It was not without a bit of difficulty as Dad and Uncle
Bob could not quite find the proper path (think it may have
changed from that on the map). From Hollins the waymarked path
led down and through a magnificent bluebell wood, to Dad's car at
Middleton Head.
Another walk under our paws and
very enjoyable too - thanks Dad as always! What we can say too is
that we were mighty glad to avoid that storm. The sky was awesome.
Dad then drove to Barbon and Uncle
Bob's car. They both visited Mr Williamson's, Dad buying some
chutney and Uncle Bob some marmalade.
Tea time now and so they drove to
nearby Kirkby Lonsdale and went to the Bay Tree Cafe, for tea and
cakes. We contented ourselves with having the rest of our picnic
and reflecting on another great day out.
