Dales Way Revisited 5

Lincoln’s Inn Bridge to Burneside

8/7/2017

Well, to day started out a bit oddly really. We drove to the start of the walk at Lincoln’s Inn Bridge and OH said ‘Is this where you need to get out?’ and for some reason, I thought we were at Milthrop Bridge (I know, they all look alike to me!!), so I said ‘no’ and so he drove on across the bridge. Then it dawned on me that yes, this was the bridge and so he had to turn round. Did you see the size of those roads? Narrow to say the least, so turning round was no mean feat! Still, he managed and took me back to the bridge. It had only been about five minutes, so no time was actually lost in reality, but I was concerned that maybe my blood sugar was dropping again, as that was really a stupid mistake. Anyway, I set off past a signpost saying ‘Low Branthwaite ¾ mile’

The path from the road headed into the fields to the west:

It was overcast, but not wet, so ideal walking weather. The path wandered along next to the river – this time the water was to my left. Through the trees I could just make out a lovely waterfall:

…and ahead lay more meadows and hills

…and, of course, inevitable stiles along the way:

The meadows headed for the Lune viaduct – so called because the river we have been following since yesterday is the Lune. The viaduct is now redundant and disused

I had to walk beneath its graceful arches

The sun was lighting it up better from the other side:

The path then led upwards through a field full of sheep; another picture of the viaduct from higher up the hill:

Ahead lay the Howgills:

…and a lovely farmhouse nestled in the folds of the fields:

…followed by views towards the hills of the Lake District

I walked around the barn in the previous photo, following a footpath sign to ‘Hole House’

…and then through the farmyard at Hole House farm

The path leads through the farmyard and onto a road by a bridge over Smithy Beck and on to Crook of Lune Bridge (yes, another bridge J )

The Lune used to mark the boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, but it does so no longer as the Howgills were firmly annexed to the Park in 2016 (if I remember that date correctly).

Once over the bridge, a quick backward glance:

From the bridge, I followed the road round the bend and up the hill, towards a viaduct. There is no traffic along here, not least because there are road works at the bridge which was closed to traffic owing to damage by floods some time before

The Howgill fells looked particularly spectacular in the morning sunshine:

It wasn’t long before I could see the viaduct I was aiming for:

Crossing underneath the viaduct, I came to a road I needed to cross. Again, it was not particularly busy, but I had heard one or two cars along it as I approached. There was a large road sign and a Dales Cycle way sign, but the Dales Way footpath sign was on the other side of the road on a gatepost

Still following the road, I passed what had once been a post office; not what you might expect:

A panorama shot taken facing back the way I had come, shows the Howgills and the Lowgill viaduct:

As you have probably noticed, I can’t get enough of photographing the Howgills J

Moving on, I saw a lovely old birch tree, its branches seeming too heavy now for its elderly trunk, so were resting on the ground

Ahead of me lay the M6 motorway, which I heard long before I saw it L I know we need big roads to get all the traffic from A to B, but sadly they are so noisy and a scar on the landscape, a necessary evil and unavoidable

At some point, I would have to cross the road (either under it or over), but not yet. The path continued through lovely pastures towards Lakethwaite farm

I turned up the track towards the farm, but just before the actual buildings is a signpost turning the walker to the right and around the back of the barns.

Another view looking backwards

…and another looking forwards

After another few fields, with the sound of the motorway getting ever louder, I came to a footbridge leading over it

A sign telling me to follow the road for 200m was prominently displayed, so I did as instructed

The signposts at this point were not exactly well maintained:

If you look carefully, you can just make out the arrows, depending on the light, but which path goes where is impossible to read, assuming there might have been any writing on them in the first place!

The next part of the guidebook was also no help as the path has been diverted, in order to cross a road and the railway track more safely. Instead of walking on a road through a small hamlet, the path now goes through a field opposite and comes out eventually on another road near a railway bridge. The line is crossed on this road bridge instead of further up the field across the tracks, as there are more trains that go faster than before travelling along the line here

On the bridge, I met two young women from Ilkley who were walking the second part of the Dales Way. They had walked the first part on a previous holiday but had not had the opportunity to finish it until now. Having followed the diversion, it took me some time to work out where I now was in relation to the guide book. I knew where I was on the map, but the description in the was more difficult to fathom. Eventually I did it and continued on my way, heading towards Shaw House with its colonial style columns

Around this point, I was joined by OH and Storm, just near a lovely pond:

We met a family near the pond who were out for a stroll. They noticed Storm and asked what breed she is. When we told them 'border collie' they were amazed - they had never seen a border collie with her colouring and markings before. One of them, a young man, stepped forward to say hello to Storm. fortunately, I saw what he was about to do and suggested he didn't try to stroke her as she is not very good with people she doesn't know. 

My next landmark was Biglands Farm, which I found easily enough

As we walked down the farm lane, we came upon this little guy; at first I thought it was a leaf, but then realised it was self propelled and was in fact a frog or toad (toad I think, as he had warty skin, but I am never too sure). Storm had a quick sniff, but decided to leave well alone

At the end of the farm track, we followed more fields from where we could see Kendal in the distance. The walk doesn’t go much closer to Kendal than this

Clearly this part of the walk is managed by a different authority, as the signs are completely different

Evidence that Storm was now with us J

…and a bit more evidence, not just of Storm, but of OH too:

The hills in the distance are the Lakeland fells

The grass in the fields was a little deeper here:

At a stream, Storm decided she wanted a drink and to cool her feet

Well, it was rather warm now – which made quite a contrast to other days we had been walking this path! And my feet were hurting too L I had developed a blister on my little toe of my left foot and it was rather painful. [This blister came back to haunt me on a later walk].

The path followed a man made track of river for a short way before coming through a stile onto a road. The stile was worse than a squeeze stile, as it was so narrow, Storm had to be lifted over it – she couldn’t manage to get through it, and she isn’t exactly fat!

At this point I took my last two photos of the day, despite it not being quite the end of the walk:

The second was a picture of the signpost at the end of the lane where the path meets the road

I had run out of space on my memory card in the camera L Thankfully, I was a mere quarter of a mile from where OH had parked the van at Burneside and would be able to take some pictures when we set off the next day. We returned to the van, then drove back to Sedbergh to sleep in the same place as the night before.