Although it is on the other side of the country and nearly touches the west coast, the Lake District, at its nearest, is only an hour's drive from home for us. So, as we had to go to Carlisle last weekend anyway because Mrs MP and Delphi were competing at an obedience dog show (see DELPHI WINS), we decided to stay for the week. We parked our caravan in the yard of Throstle Hall Farm just outside of the village of Caldbeck, which is pretty much at the northernmost tip of the Lake District at the foot of the fells behind Skiddaw and Blencathra.
Caldbeck is a village that Mrs MP and myself are regularly drawn back to. It is nowhere near as busy as the villages in the main part of the Lake District National Park but is just as charming as the best of them. If I hadn't had the misfortune of meeting the child-grooming vicar, the cover-up archdeacon and the bigoted bishop it would have been exactly the sort of place we would have retired to.
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The Cald Beck at Calbeck |
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St. Kentigern's (a.k.a. St. Mungo's) Well at Caldbeck. Originally much deeper, it was used by the saint for full immersion baptisms |
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In the 6th Century St. Kentigern (founder of Glasgow) worked as a missionary in Caldbeck before he travelled further south to found churches in Wales |
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A herdwick sheep. If I had sheep they would be herdies |
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The beck running through the village |
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When I win the lottery I am going to live in one of these cottages |
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Sheep on a village meadow |
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The old smithy - now a tearoom |
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The village farm |
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17th. Century cottage |
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St. Kentigern's Church dates back to Norman times. It replaced a celtic church originally founded by its patron saint |
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That arch looks Norman to me |
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A sunflower growing up from a crack in the paving stones of the church porch |
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Like most Cumbrian churches, St. Kentigern's is plain inside reflecting the predominantly low church ethos of the diocese |
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However, it does have some interesting a beautiful stained glass |
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John Peel, not the DJ but the huntsman, is buried in the churchyard. He was immortalised in the song "Do yea ken John Peel?" |
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The Old Rectory. The vicar (now house for duty) no longer lives in this mansion of a house. However, the present vicarage is almost as big |
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Old AA sign on wall of village garage |
Throstle Hall farm is one of the best small caravan sites we have ever stayed on. The owners were friendly, the facilities were clean and more than adequate and the free range eggs were delicious and, at £1.50 a dozen, extremely cheap.
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Quiz enjoying the evening sun |
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Delphi hiding from the evening sun under Mrs MP's chair |
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Farm meadow |
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Looking east |
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Looking south towards the Caldbeck Fells |
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If it itches then scratch it! |
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Housemartins on the telephone wire |
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A tired Quiz on my bunk |
For our first long walk we drove to Derwentwater at Keswick where we caught a launch down to Lodore. From there we crossed the water meadows along the bottom of the lake and then all the way up the west bank back to Keswick.
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Lakeside at Keswick |
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Looking south over Derwentwater towards Cat Bells |
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As it is tradition in these parts we sacrificed a young child to the water gods in order to guarantee a safe journey for ourselves |
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The path across the water meadows at the southern end of Derwentwater |
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Looking back over the Derwent to Shepherds Crag |
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The lakeshore at Brandlehow Bay |
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Looking north from Brandlehow Bay towards Blencathra |
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Delphi and Quiz having a mad on the lakeshore. Brandlehow Point is in the background |
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One of the Derwentwater launches leaving Hawes End |
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Looking over The Park towards Cat Bells |
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Nichol End boatyard |
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Looking east over Derwentwater towards Keswick |
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Bridge over the River Derwent at Portinscale, north of Derwentwater |
For our next big walk we stayed local. We parked in Calbeck and walked east along the Cumbria Way for a couple of miles or so before turning right along the River Caldew and into Hesket Newmarket. After a cup of tea from the village shop we crossed the fields to Upton, then another field to the waterfalls on Whelpo Beck before making our way back to our car.
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Looking over Throstle Hall Farm towards the Caldbeck Fells from the Cumbria Way |
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Our caravan parked at Throstle Hall Farm |
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The point at which we parted company with the Cumbria Way |
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The River Caldew north of Hesket Newmarket |
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Hesket Newmarket showground all ready for Saturday |
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Back of Hesket Newmarket |
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The Old Crown at Hesket Newmarket Britain's first cooperatively owned pub Decidedly closed even though it's the middle of the tourist season |
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Hesket Newmarket village green |
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Looking towards the Caldbeck Fells from Upton |
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Whelpo Beck flowing through the Fairy Kettle at Howk Gorge near Caldbeck |
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Caldbeck village pond |
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Red sky at night, shepherds' delight Although, to be honest, the next day was wet and miserable |
As regular readers will know, Quiz is from working border collie stock and is registered with the International Sheep Dog Society. He has definitely inherited all the right traits for a working dog and so I'm looking into the possibility of training him to compete in sheep dog trials even if it is only at a very novice level. Therefore, on Thursday we took the opportunity of being in Caldbeck for their annual sheep dog trial to check out exactly what goes on at such events. It was very relaxed and friendly, the Cumberland sausage baps were scrumptious, and the competition itself, interesting. I learned a lot about working sheep dogs and I hope this will help me develop a good friendship with Quiz who is certainly different to any other border collie I have lived with.












Friday was another showery day and the clouds hung low over the fell tops. We went to Glenridding on Ullswater (another favourite haunt of ours that has featured on this blog before). Although it would have been foolhardy, because of the poor visibility, to attempt to climb high up into the fells we did manage a rather splendid circular walk in the shadow of the mighty Helvellyn.
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Miner's cottages in Glenridding |
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Looking out across Glenridding Beck towards the slopes of Birkhouse Moor |
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Swart Beck |
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The top of Helvellyn covered in cloud |
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Glenridding Beck above the mine workings |
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On the south side of Glenridding Beck looking towards Glenridding village |
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View from where we took our tea break |
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In a garden on the outskirts of Glenridding village |
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Rowan tree, lakeside at Glenridding Looking towards Patterdale Common |
Not only were we lucky enough to be in Caldbeck for their sheep dog trial we were also there for the Hesket Newmarket Show. I was really looking forward to this event but, to be honest, it was quite disappointing. There were very few entries and very few stalls of interest. Considering the possibilities of what could be included in a country show I think the organisers had been very lazy. Unless you were a sheep farmer there was very little of any relevance which was silly as most of the paying showgoers were definitely not farmers. This was proved by the fact that the entry for the pet dog class was about ten times as high as any of the livestock and working dog classes. They should learn from this but they won't.



















Sunday was another changeable day weatherwise. We spent it mooching around Waterhead Pier near Ambleside and Grasmere. I didn't take any photos because you will have seen it all before on this very blog. We are now back home. Mrs MP goes back to work tomorrow and hopefully I will find something interesting to blog about. But don't count on it. I've got quite used to doing bugger all all day except enjoying myself. Heck, I could easily qualify for the episcopacy.
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A very naughty cow who is not obeying the law (see photo at top of post) |
I love your travelogues, Jonathan. You should publish a book!
Great photos, Jonathan! Thanks for the “tour”!
I enjoyed all the pictures – especially the Rowan tree, Quiz and Delphi, the red colored sheep (they are so beautiful), and the horses – Frisians and Clydesdale? Thank you for sharing them. So much beauty and joy.
As much as I love animals, * giving drivers licenses to cattle is a step too far, IMO.
* Inc the tasty ones! Beeeeef. Geez, MP, at the bottom of the thread, you had to undercut my joke, didncha?
OMG, LOOK at all the purdy pictures! [Went a bit nuts w/ the camera, did we? Ah, the days of film, when one had to ration oneself’s shutter-finger. ;-p]
Seriously, looking forward to enjoying these pics, at length… (!)
One of your best ever photo-diary posts, IMHO, Jonathan.
I particularly enjoyed the detail about John Peel.
I’m writing this from Oakham, BTW, so quite a bit closer to you than usual. In case you felt a disturbance in the Force!
Silly dogs! Thanks for sharing!
“He has definitely inherited all the right traits for a working dog and so I’m looking into the possibility of training him to compete in sheep dog trials even if it is only at a very novice level.”
…and then you and Quiz can fly (!!!) over to this side o’ the Pond, and join me at UC Davis for Picnic Day (3rd Sat of April) and their Sheep Dog Trials, as seen here.
Hmmm.
At least your speedy cow—unlike all other Brits—is driving on the right (i.e., proper) side of the road!