Sun 4 Feb 2018
For a full index of the walks, please click here.
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Handley's Bridge, Cautley |
After a sharp frost
overnight Andrew and I set off early in the morning sunshine to Cautley, where
we crossed Handley's Bridge for the start of our walk. AW said one should
always have an aim when out walking, and today we had two. The first was to
check on the footpath at the foot of Wandale Hill where I had caused us to go
astray on 28 December (see Harter Fell & Wandale Hill) and the second was to climb Kensgriff and Yarlside.
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Yarlside (left) and Kensgriff in morning sunshine |
Our immediate destination was Narthwaite and Wainwright
shows the shortest route to be across Backside Beck (wonder who gave it that name) using a ford. In his
original guide he also showed, as still does the O.S. map, a bridge over the
stream lower down, but this didn't exist when I came this way on 4 March 2008, there
being no indication that there had ever been one. I see that Chris Jesty agrees
in his revision. He suggests using a pole below the ford, which might be useful
if you are Tarzan or Bear Grylls. Getting our feet wet seemed the only valid
option, and get our feet wet we certainly did which resulted in my toes being frozen
for the rest of the walk.
Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of these interesting obstacles on the route, but I hope to remedy that sometime. Watch this space...
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Barn at Narthwaite |
We soon reached Narthwaite where some of the buildings were constructed with huge stones of the sort one finds on Roman sites. We surprised a flock of sheep that were sheltering in a barn and they came streaming out and on to the open fell. We climbed the muddy lane which leads
to the bridleway we had both used a month ago. There was some weak sunshine but also a
little snow flurry as we followed the track which became vague in places and was very wet. Eventually we were able to trace it to the place where we could cross Adamthwaite Sike without difficulty at a gate in a wall corner. Had we walked on beyond the huge standing stone on 28 December this was the spot we would have reached. The
problem was solved.
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Looking back at the gate to the bridleway |
We walked back to the place where AW suggests we cross to Stockless Gill prior to starting up the easy slope of Kensgriff.
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The Kensgriff path starts near the gill on the right |
However we had to abandon the second stage of our plan because of a complete change in the weather to sleet and low cloud. We like to have good views from the summits of the hills we climb and the chances of that being possible seemed unlikely.
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A change of weather... |
So it was in a glum mood that we retraced our steps along
the bridleway to Narthwaite. Above Mountain view we found a large sheep on her
side, unable to move, yet conscious, and when we reached the farm we left a
note about it, the farmer not being home. I ought to have left a telephone
number because it would be good to know if the animal survived in such a cold
and wet situation. I have thought since that had we turned the sheep over with its legs pointing downhill she might have been able to struggle to her feet.
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...so Kensgriff unvisited! |
I say we were glum but at least one of our aims had been
satisfied, having located the route which I must have used ten years ago but still
can't remember. In future I shall make more use of the Ordnance map and place less
reliance on my memory.
There had been a number of cars parked by Handley Bridge in the morning,
but we encountered no other walkers on our route . After re-baptising our feet at the ford the skies cleared and we had a lovely view of the
fells we had planned to climb, which, as AW reminds us, will still be there for
exploring at a later date.
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