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Little Asby, Raisbeck, Beacon Hill, Castle Folds, Cumbria. Wed 11 Oct 2006

 

It was a very dark morning as I drove north along the M6 to Tebay. I left the motorway and headed NE through the lanes to the tiny hamlet of Little Asby. I know the definition of hamlet is a small settlement without a church but the church has now been converted to a private dwelling, so I’ll stick to my description. Although there were several houses and a caravan park nobody was about. I’d just poured a cup of tea from my flask when a lady driving a taxi drove up and asked me if I knew where Peartree House was. I said I didn’t and she drove off to investigate elsewhere.


Little Asby.


A nice way-post on the road.

The first part of my walk was all road, so I walked briskly to get it out of the way. It was still very dark and overcast with rain threatening, but it hadn’t arrived yet. I left the village and joined the minor road towards Sunbiggin Tarn. On the way the taxi drove back towards me with a passenger, what looked like a schoolboy.

On and on I strode towards Raisbeck. When I reached Knots Lane the heavens opened and I quickly put on full waterproofs. The map shows a stone circle in the field to the right but I saw no sign of it. A path to the left took me to Scarside and back onto a tarmac road, though most of it was under mud as I passed the farm. At another Scar Side, this time the name is split, I took a concrete farm access towards Broadfell then a path up to the B6260 Appleby Road above Orton.
 


A small empty house at Raisbeck.


Limekiln near the Appleby road.

Just before reaching the road there was a very nice Lime Kiln where I stopped for a quick coffee. The heavy rain had eased but I still had occasional drizzle to contend with. At the road was an interesting boundary stone with an inscription that I couldn’t make out.

I was now on the Coast to Coast route, last walked with Charlie in 1980. I headed east and followed the wall up to the Jubilee monument (1887) on Beacon Hill. It commemorates the golden jubilee (50years) of the reign of Queen Victoria. I rejoined the wall and continued to a gate and out onto a green path. I was glad to be off the limestone as it was very slippery in the wet conditions.


Jubilee monument on Beacon Hill.


Cairns marking Castle Folds settlement.

I was now heading for Castle Folds but it was over the far side of the hill ahead so the direction had to be guessed. I reached the wall OK and set off across more slipper limestone to the cairns that mark the ancient fortified Romano-British settlement of Castle Folds. The cairns on High Pike were my next objective but the going was again difficult due to wet and slippery limestone underfoot.

I was glad to rejoin the wall and have grass to walk on. The path then followed parallel to a wall towards Sunbiggin Tarn where I stopped to have my lunch. It was raining and windy so I used my one-man storm shelter to stop my sandwiches getting soggy. I then followed a very wet route down to Mason Wath where I joined a minor road. I’d planned to continue down Potts Valley but that would have meant quite a detour to find the path. I’d been out on the fell for longer than anticipated so decided to return to Little Asby by the road route. Approaching the village I noticed a farm building along a minor track to my left. A wooden nameplate lay rotting on the track side. I looked closer to see the name ‘Burtree’. The mystery was solved. I now knew the taxi driver wasn’t looking for ‘Peartree’ after all. Perhaps I’d miss-heard?