Sat 21 Sep 2013
We had breakfast
at Parkside Cafe and then drove up to Troutbeck. It was obvious that it was going to be a day of low cloud, damp and grey. Initially we took the
wrong way in Limefitt Park and started walking too low down in the valley. We climbed up to the correct route and followed
the track to a well-built ancient shipon just beyond Troutbeck Park Farm.
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| Old shipon just beyond Troutbeck Park Farm |
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| Can anyone identify the purpose of the wooden bars? |
Later I asked my friends Dick and Geoff at the cafe about the bars in the stalls, which had handles and pivoted on a pin near the top. Their expert opinion was that they were used to tether the beasts, and were probably originally fixed at the bottom.
We continued along the valley, with no hope of better weather conditions developing, and had our lunch snack some way below Scot Rake. Afterwards we considered climbing the old Roman Track up to Thornthwaite Crag, but decided that because it disappeared into the cloud there would be no view it would have simply been a waste of effort.
AW warns about the marshy ground at the northern root of the Tongue but we found a good though wet path up to the fence on the ridge. Unfortunately we didn't see the ancient cairn because of the mist.
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| Still no view, and only 1,191 feet above sea level |
We reached the top and then took the steep and slippery path down to the valley. My legs began to really ache on the way back along Ing Lane to the car. When we reached it and Andrew took off his boots they gave vent to an amazing amount of steam from his wet socks! Unfortunately they would not provide a suitable illustration with which to end this account.
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| A superb example of walling in a building in Ing Lane |
