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Search - Lake District: West and South Lakeland: Walks (Pathfinder)

Lake District West and South Lakeland Walks - Pathfinder
Author: Terry Marsh

The dales of western Lakeland are breathtakingly beautiful, rich in flora and fauna, wild moors, craggy heights, hidden dales and sundry secret ways, but they suffer from relative inaccessibility; there is no passage, other than on foot, through the middle of the Lakes to get into Wasdale, or Ennerdale (where, in any case, traffic is forbidden),... more » although one early map of the region does rather ambitiously show a motor road crossing to Sty Head and down into Wasdale. Yet, for the walker, Ennerdale, Wasdale and Eskdale are as delectable as anywhere else, and arguably more so. It was in Wasdale that the early pioneers of Lakeland rock climbing came to cut their teeth, and, in a few sad instances, to die. By comparison, the Coniston fells, being much more accessible, are as popular as any in the Lake District. Between the two, one of Lakeland's hidden gems is to be found, Dunnerdale, the valley of the River Duddon. The river rises on Cold Pike and Pike o'Blisco above Langdale, but by the time it passes Cockley Beck in Wrynose Bottom, and changes direction to head for the sea, it has started to fashion the most breathtaking of dales, flanked by comparatively low fells, but summits that have great appeal and unrivalled views. This and the mosses north-west of Coniston Water is the home of early man, who lived on the high moors of Torver, Blawith and Monk Coniston. For these early settlers their main interest lay in the extensive woodlands, a great B&Q storehouse from which to build their homes, construct weapons and tools. In the early 12th century, much of the area, known as Furness, was given to a colony of monks from the Norman-French abbey at Savigny. They founded an abbey at Furness, and in 1143 resisted the parent abbey's move to the Cistercian Order, for which the abbot, Peter of York, was captured and held in France, becoming a most worthy monk and learning the Cistercian Order. It was the influence of the abbey that shaped much of the landscape we see today around Coniston, for it was the monks, rather than settling Scandinavians, who cleared most of the forest to make charcoal to fire the bloomeries for the copper mines and to develop grazing for sheep. Only with the opening of the Furness Railway in 1859, originally intended for more efficient transportation of copper and slate, did tourism begin. By the time author and art critic John Ruskin came to the live on the shores of Coniston Water, tourism was well established; Keswick and Ambleside had a host of new and old hotels, while a complete new town had developed at Windermere, a town of hotels, lodging-houses, inns and shops. The west and the south has a distinct feeling of entree about it. This is the way people used to access the region. In the days before motorways, trunk roads and, for that matter, anything resembling a passable highway, visitors would reach the area across the treacherous sands of Morecambe Bay, arriving at Grange and Cartmel, where the bodies of many who failed to beat the incoming tide lie buried, including, from 1577 'One little mann Rownd faced wch was Drouned at Grainge'. Out on the coast, Whitehaven has a long legacy as a seaport from which coal was conveyed from the West Cumbrian mines mainly of the Lowther family; while nearby St Bees is the traditional landing site of St Bega, who came from Ireland and developed a priory here. When the heart of Lakeland is beating to the rhythm of ten thousand feet, the pace of life in the west and south is much more relaxed, and the moors and mosses repose in stark but complimentary contrast to the highest fells in England.

ISBN-13: 9781854584977
ISBN-10: 1854584979
Publication Date: 11/15/2009
Pages: 96
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Crimson Publishing
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

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Search - Lake District: West and South Lakeland: Walks (Pathfinder)

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