Captain's Log

500 Nun's Walks

Today’s walk would be my 500th Nun’s Walk. The website started as a post ‘COVID lockdown’ project in September 2021. Staying indoors during the three lockdowns had instilled in me a desire to make the most of my time outdoors. Looking through old photographs during the lockdown periods, I realised that I’d walked and visited many, many places over  my lifetime, but had never kept any journal. Dates, people, places and events had slipped from my memory and this seemed quite a shame since memories are all that we ever really possess. It felt like I'd ‘lost’ years, maybe even decades. From the walks I did remember,  I recalled that they tended to favour known routes and areas. I felt unsatisfied with that approach now; I wanted to explore new areas and visit new places. I saw Nun’s Walks as being a place to record my excursions and also to provide inspiration and motivation for further explorations. The inclusion of Ventures and Mini-ventures provided a reason to get off the sofa and see the world with a purpose. In these respects, the website has been far more effective than I’d ever imagined. It’s actually been rare for me to repeat any particular route exactly in Nun’s Walks (in fact, the only one is the Fairfield Horseshoe). I've walked along beaches, around cities and visited museums and cathedrals. Many of these places I would never have considered exploring before Nun's Walks. When I started, back in September 2021, I thought I’d lose enthusiasm for the project by Christmas. Four years, 500 walks and 69 places visited later, I find myself more motivated than ever to continue. 

Watermillock

Yet again the weather forecast didn’t appear promising for the day. Wind and showers looked like they would be unwelcome company for some of the way. At least it wasn’t raining as we set out from our base in Watermillock. It was a strong wind though and we battened down the hatches with our jackets and hats. Today’s walk would follow the Ullswater Way from Watermillock to Pooley Bridge. We would take a potter around the village’s high street and see what it had to offer. There would be slight variations to our outbound route on our return to Watermillock.

About 200m north of All Saints Church in Watermillock, there’s space at the roadside to park about half a dozen cars.  We turned off the road onto the footpath that meanders through the Ullswater Holiday Park. I remember arriving here a couple of decades ago with Fatboy and Peter Pan to pitch our tents for the weekend. We were refused entry by the owners; apparently permitting three blokes in their forties to camp for the  weekend was against their site rules. We got back into the car and drove to the campsite at Troutbeck and used that as our base instead. To be fair, the Ullswater Holiday Park is more of a holiday park than a camp site. Static caravans take up most of the space, although there’s areas for glamping and camper vans too. On the far side of the site we walked into a grassy area which I took to be an area for pitched tents. You’d have needed a boat, rather than a tent to pitch there today. The grass was saturated and the waterlogged terrain continued as we traversed the fields beyond the site. It was a relief when we finally reached the tarmac of a single track road. 

Maiden Castle

We headed eastwards along the road and came to Wreay. One of the buildings had Bennet Head Farm inscribed on its front. Later in the day we’d come across a memorial to Joe and Dorothy Lightburn of Bennet Head Farm as we descended Salmond’s Hill to the east. 

The road gradually turned to the north and after a while I heard whirring behind us. I turned around to see a battery operated ATV approaching at some speed. I jumped to one side of the road and the Kapitan and Cabin Boy leaped to the other. I noticed a large pothole full of water next to me, but there wasn’t any time to cross the road, out of its way. There were also deep  puddles on either side of the pothole and so I couldn’t get out of the way. As I was contemplating what I should do, the ATV drove through the pothole and sprayed me with dirty water. The vehicle whirred away into the sunset.    

After my unsought shower, we headed over a field, crossed Ramps Beck and then climbed through another field to Maiden Castle. There weren’t many maidens about. In fact, there wasn’t much of a castle either. There was a 80m diameter circular shallow ditch in the field that indicated the outer walls of the Iron Age farmstead. Back in the day, the ditch would have been deeper, the banks higher and would have been topped with a fence. There would have been 25-30 people living here. I’d imagine that you’d have to get on with your neighbours given that the enclosure would also hold their livestock overnight. After inspecting the site, we started a descent through the fields to the east. 

Dunmallard Hill

It was an exceedingly soggy descent through the fields and I was thankful when we reached the tarmac of a road that led into the Waterfoot Caravan Park. Our visit to the site was brief and we set off over another waterlogged field towards Ullswater Lake. Our footpath ran alongside the A592. We found a bench and stopped for a break. There would have been a lovely view right along the length of the lake, but the wind was blowing a light rain straight into our faces. We braved the venue long enough to have a cup of coffee and then made tracks towards the wooded lump known as Dunmallard Hill. There’s a permissive path that completes a circuit around the bottom of the hill and one that traverses over its top. We chose the latter and made the steady climb through the trees. It was only about an 80m ascent in vertical terms and didn’t present any problems. There wasn’t a lot to see at the summit because of the surrounding trees. There used to be an Iron Age fort here, but there was little evidence of it today as I explored it with my untrained eye. We continued straight down the other side. At the crossroads of paths at the bottom, the Kapitan decided to have a pee behind a tree. Why he chose this busy junction, when he could have had the remote summit to himself, nobody but the Kapitan knows. Inevitably a woman walked past on one of the paths and I thought it best not to engage her in conversation and increase everybody's embarrassment further.  We followed the perimeter path on the east side of the hill and then crossed Pooley Bridge into the village of Pooley Bridge.

Pooley Bridge

We walked along the High Street. If my boots hadn’t been twice the size due to the clay they were carrying, I’d have suggested that we went into a café for some coffee and cake. In the end, it was The Barn at the east end of the village that had  the pleasure of my muddy footprints. I had the pleasure of a slice of their Paradise flapjack. 

The 250 year old stone bridge across the River Eamont was demolished courtesy of Storm Desmond in 2015. A temporary one was put in place in 2016, but it wasn’t until 2020 that the new permanent bridge was opened. We re-joined the Dunmallard perimeter path and made our way back to the bench where we’d taken a break earlier. Even though it was still blowing a hooley, we sat down there again to have our lunch. The wind and rain blew even harder into our faces. 

Salmond's Hill

Rather than retrace our soggy steps through the aptly named Waterfoot Caravan Park and the muddy fields to Maiden Castle, I improvised an alternative route over Salmond’s Hill. This turned out to be an inspired decision since the path was drier, at least initially. We climbed into the woods on the south side of the hill. There would have been a great view of the lake if it hadn’t been for the surrounding trees. After we reached the top of the hill, the descent on the other side was a much muddier affair. We came across a massive block of stone with the inscription ‘Rest A While And View’ on its side. Indeed, it would have had a great view along Ullswater if it wasn’t for those troublesome trees to the south. A plaque said that the seat was a memorial to Joe and Dorothy Lightburn of Bennet Head Farm. ‘So much happiness gained farming these beautiful acres’, it added. It seemed that for the first time in my life, I'd actually come across some happy farmers. The muddy path continued across fields, until we reached the road where we’d turned off to Maiden Castle on the outbound journey. I looked both ways for that dastardly pothole splashing ATV, but it was nowhere in sight. We started retracing our steps back along the road towards Watermillock. 

Return

Showers stopped and started. The sky went grey and then the sun came out. It was that type of day. Only the strong wind was constant. Rather than cross the muddy fields to the Ullswater Caravan Park, we chose to return to Watermillock along the road. A nice rainbow appeared over Salmond’s Hill as we neared the end of the walk. We found even more caravan parks at the base of Little Mell Fell. I think the Lake District is being overrun by static caravans. 

The area between Watermillock and Pooley Bridge was new to me and it was good to explore somewhere different. The paths had been soggy, even waterlogged in places. That was due to seven weeks of rain. I think they’d be in far better condition in Summer. It was nice to visit Maiden Castle and to climb to the top of Dunmallard Hill and tick another Explorer hill off my list;

All I had to do now was plan by 501st walk.