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Whittle Wander|
Sedbergh, Cautley Spout and The Calf. Thu 01 Dec 2005 |
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Left Sedbergh town in a semi-darkness drizzle at 7:50am. I was surprised at the amount of activity going on at that time. Shops were opening and many people were about. I headed out east on the A683 for a mile or so before turning left along a narrow lane. It was a pleasant walk in spite of the light rain, when the tarmac ended at a farm a gravel track continued through a gate and wound it's way along the contour until a stone bridge was reached. Here the gradient went steeply up and at the end of the track was the farm building of Fawcett Bank. A pleasant path continued through the fields and took me all the way to a footbridge over Cautley Beck. To my left was the impressive view up to Cautley Spout. By now the rain had stopped but it was very dull and gloomy. I very informative notice board had appeared since my last visit here a couple of years ago. It had details of the iron-age settlements nearby and pictures of how they would have looked. |
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 The informative notice board near Cautley Spout |
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| Following Red Gill Beck I eventually reached the magnificently re-build sheepfold by Andy Goldwsworthy (more from Andy here). Though the weather was still gloomy and it was still relatively early I decided to stop here for lunch. Sitting behind the wall and out of the wind eating my sandwiches and drinking hot coffee was quite idyllic. By now I was just about in the cloud so decided to go straight up the fell-side ahead to 'The Calf'. The ground was solid and it was a steady and easy climb that soon got me to the summit. | |
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I was in almost zero visibility but with compass in hand I arrived at the summit tarn and then the trig point. There was nothing to see so I didn't hang about but headed south along the main footpath. The path has had quite a lot of work done on it in the past and it is well stoned with a drainage ditch to the side. Walking along it was a joy; just a pity I still couldn't see anything. Never mind, at least the rain had stopped. After a mile or so things brightened up a bit and the high winds started to clear the clouds. When I arrived at the sheepfold at Rowantree Grain I could see the M6 motorway below and by the time I reached the trig point on the summit of Winder I had a very good view. By now the wind was so fierce I had to make a hasty retreat down the fell-side back to the relative shelter of Sedbergh. |
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