Mucky pups... in the Eden Valley - Cumbria

Parking in one of the few parking spaces at the Long Meg druid circle just outside of Little Salkeld our day out started with a look around the collection of stones.

Long Meg stands alone ...

Long meg and her daughters is a collection of some 69 stones with a commanding view over the Cumbrian fells.

With a diameter spanning over 100m and arranged in a circle straddling a narrow farm track, the 68 stones that make up the daughters are said to date from about 1500 BC.

The stone known as Long Meg stands alone to one edge of the circle. Standing almost 3m high Long Meg has some carvings into it said to be a spiral and a cup and ring mark.

After a quick run around the stones we walked back down the road and started on our walk towards the River Eden and the caves.

Abandoned signalbox - Settle to Carlisle line

We walked through the top part of the village of Little Salkeld and after passing a farm and onto a well maintained tarmac side road, we came across our first view of the River Eden curving away from us into the distance.

An old signal box, long disused and looking a little shabby, is situated alongside the Settle to Carlisle railway track.

Many pictures can be seen around the internet of this bit of railway heritage, including this picture of the Blue Peter passing by courtesy of this website.

Northern Youth Motocross circuit - Great Salkeld

Birdsong had now become drowned out by the nearby motocross track.

Although possibly about 700m away from our path the demented wasp like motorbike engines could be heard well above everthing else nearby.

They did seem to be having fun riding at top speed around the snake like track carved into the sloping field.

Artwork

To our left, at the edge of the path is a brick mosaic collage.

Symbolising the flow of the River Eden and made by local schoolchildren the work seems unexpected but does serve to encourage you to look for other pieces of art along our route.

Charlie is starting to get thirsty and we stop to take a drink. Mum and dad also take the chance to remove a couple of jumpers as they are starting to feel quite hot in the late morning sunshine.

Gypsum mine workings

Rain was forecast for today but although dark clouds can be seen on the distant fells, all is dry and still.

Our path continues slightly uphill then takes a sharp left down past a cage containing some grey buzzing beasts and through what seems to be a maze of wire fences until we emerge next to some old buildings.

After a quick consultation with the notes about this walk it seems as if this area was a gypsum mine and the rock was loaded into carts and trundled down to the main rail line sidings near to the signal box seen earlier.

Bluebells

Large rail trucks would take the white rock to Billingham to be made into plaster for buildings and other products.

Dad wondered if any of the old locomotives that used to work here were still around and after a quick search on the internet it seems as if an engine called W.S.T. was take to the Bowes Railway Museum.

Lacy's caves

Mum finally found her fields of bluebells this week as we past through some of the woodland clearings.

You may remember that we went to Rannerdale Valley recently however ,we were a few days or even a week too early and the flowers were not fully open.

Our path continues and after a drink from the river and a paddle to cool our tummies we rise away from the river and to our left a sign indicating we have finally arrived at Lacy’s Caves.

Historians all seem to agree that these caves were chiseled into the red sandstone by the local squire.

Lacy's caves

Maybe as a wine cellar or as a place to entertain the story is unclear as to why the 5 caves were dug, however all seem to agree that Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Lacy, who lived in Salkeld Hall in the 18th Century was a bit of a excentric.

Inside the caverns a number of people have left their marks. Names, dates and other inscriptions are to be found on many of the walls.

Lacy's caves - (c) Not to be reproduced without permission

The sandy floor was nice and cool on our tummies and we took a few minutes to cool off before we explored a bit more.

From the entrance you can look back up the River Eden in the direction from which we had walked.

Salmon , Brown Trout and Grayling are all to be found the river ponds in this area and it is a popular spot for fishing.

A great way to get through a fence

Leaving the caves our path rose steeply over the top of this spur of rock then descended to a fence with a stile.

Regular followers of this blog will know that we are always interested in ways to get over or through fences without dad having to lift us up and over .

At this particular stile we came across a great solution of a wooden framed hole and a plank to move to one side to make the gap wide enough for us to sneak through.

Addington Church

After we had passed, into the muddy bog beyond, dad moved the taller upright plank back over the gap sealing the fence once more. We have to say this was a fantastic solution once we figured it out.

It did however occur to us that if this arrangement was not for us, then what was it for and how would larger dogs manage?

Two large grass fields allowed us to stretch our legs for a short while until we emerged, via another stile arrangement, to a road and small stone bridge.

It was here that the trail went dead and the map had to be consulted. Was it to be uphill to our right or follow the road to our left?

Dad decided right was best and we trudged up the never ending hill where, after about 20 minutes, we entered Glassonby.

A very muddy path

Following the main road for a further ten minutes, still upwards, mum spotted a church like building off to our right through some trees.

Again sign posts were lacking so, venturing down a narrow lane, we went exploring to see if this was the building on our map.

Thankfully it was and after a brief excursion into the churchyard we took what we know know to be a long shortcut.

Our mistake was to exit the churchyard and follow the path, that led us to the church, down the slight slope away from the church.

This path brought us out onto a very muddy farm track and around 300m short of the Long Meg stone circle and where the car was parked.

Now it was just our luck that many dairy cows had just walked along this path in the direction we needed to go towards the farm and you guessed it, the path was covered in much ‘guano’.

Charlie gets a bath

Oh well, we were going to get a bath anyway, so across the path we splodged and through the farm gate, sorry Mr Farmer, and back towards the car.

Here Mum and Dad spotted some fellow walkers who we had seen earlier in the churchyard, they approached from our left. It seems the ideal path was through the top part of the graveyard and to our location at the edge of the stone circle.

We did get our bath upon our return home.

Charlie as always was the dirtiest and it took three shampoo washes to remove the dirt, sand and general muck.

I was not that bad, but it still took over 20 minutes under the shower to clean me up.

Our usual run around the house followed as we tried to dry ourselves but we were just so tired out that we dropped in front of the fire and toasted ourselves dry.

What a great day in the Eden Valley and we look forward to a good nights sleep.

Until next time

Buster and Charlie