Captain's Log

Sizergh Castle

The weather forecasters had relayed their doom-cast on the TV this morning. Their computer graphics showed wave after wave of blue blobs hitting the Lake District. There were even one or two zig-zags of lightning thrown in too. I figured I would be better off doing a lower level walk rather than tempt fate on the tops. The National Trust’s Sizergh Castle near Kendal had been on my radar for quite a while and so I decided to pay it a visit. There is quite a large estate attached to the castle and I plotted a reasonably sized route around it. The OS map indicated quite a bit of field hopping would be involved, but there also was a large area of open access areas around Scout Scar. After the walk I planned to visit Sizergh Castle and its gardens. 

I was quite lucky that I even got to Sizergh Castle in the first place. A lorry had overturned on the M6 and caught fire. Consequently the motorway had been shut and all motorway traffic diverted along the A591.  There was so much traffic that the northbound dual carriage-way became gridlocked. The pinch point was at the Plumgarths roundabout, where traffic on the A591 had to give way, before joining the A5284 into Kendal. By a fortunate quirk of road planning, the traffic driving south along the A591 do not have to give way at the roundabout and I was able to motor southwards without any delay. I just hoped that the problem would be sorted by the time I had to make my return journey.   

Sizergh Fell

I couldn’t actually see the castle from the carpark, but I figured I’d have lots of time to view it once I’d finished my walk. I headed southwards on a signed path that turned into a field hop. The fields were large and so it wasn’t much hassle. I didn’t quite reach the top of Sizergh Fell, but at only 122m high, it hardly seemed worth the effort. I had enough elevation though to see the hills of the Dales in the distance. I could also see the estuary near Grange-over-Sands. I’d put my waterproofs on at the carpark and judging by the spectacular rainbow that appeared in the west, it wouldn’t be long before I got a soaking. The rain took another 5 minutes to reach me. The rainbows would feature frequently on this walk. The rain would arrive in waves from the southwest, but in between I’d get a bit of sun and rainbows would appear.  

The Chapel Of Ease Of St John Heslington

I joined a quiet lane for a few hundred metres and then I headed back into the estate again. The route started going uphill and I joined a farmer's track that took me to The Chapel Of Ease Of St John Heslington. I could see another cloud of rain approaching and so I took refuge in the church before it hit. ‘Chapel Of Ease’ sounded a bit unusual and so I had to look it up. These churches were built when parishioners would have to walk too far to get to the official parish church.  The church was built in 1726. There was an interesting painting that covered the east end of the chapel of twelve angels kneeling and looking at Christ depicted in the stained glass window. The picture was apparently a memorial to all those who were killed in the Great War. There was a large organ in one corner of the church which was built in 1845. 

I left the church. The latest rain cloud had wandered overhead and disappeared, but I could see yet another one approaching in the distance. There was a tremendous view over the Lyth valley. It was a lot wider than other Lakeland valleys and the surrounding hills lower.  My route would take me northwards along the east side of the valley. I headed off in that direction. 

Scout Scar

I was on open access land now, but I kept to the edge of the limestone scar that formed a vertical rim to the Lyth valley. The terrain seemed more like the Dales than the Lake District. The rain had made the limestone slippery and it was a bit like walking on bars of soap. It was a wonderful walk along the edge of the scar, even if I did get a battering from the wind and rain. The rainbows kept me entertained too. As I was approaching the northern end, the day got darker and I could see what looked like a thunder cloud approaching over the Lyth Valley towards me. I could see what looked like a shelter further ahead and I made a dash for it. I didn’t escape the start of the ensuing downpour, but I did manage to shelter for 10 minutes as the storm passed. The shelter was built as a cross and I was able to find a quadrant out of the wind. I was fortunate that the shelter had a roof on it. It even had a toposcope around its rim so that you could identify certain places in the distance. An information board told me that it was known as ‘The Mushroom’ and was built to commemorate the Coronation of King George V. I’m not a royalist, but on this occasion I thanked George V for preventing me from getting a thorough soaking. The heavy rain became a light shower and I set off northwards again along the edge of the scar. 

Scout Scar Plateau

I reached the end of the scar and decided to make my way back along it following its flat summit plateau. The track was initially squeezed between some trees and a stone wall. It had the advantage that it sheltered me from the wind and rain, but it had the disadvantage that there wasn’t much of a view. I was able to get a distant view of the A591 though. I could see traffic still stationary on the dual carriage-way. Hmmm…that didn’t bode well for my return journey to Ambleside. Eventually I broke free of the trees and the area became more open. The rain eased a bit and even the sun made some attempts to show itself. I came across a trig point. This had been hidden when I’d walked along the scar’s edge earlier on. The plateau on top of the scar seemed to have many tracks and I followed one that drifted back to the scar’s edge. I retraced my steps back to the Chapel of Ease. 

Return

My route back to the Sizergh carpark involved some field hops. As I progressed I finally got a distant view of the tower of Sizergh castle. There were quite a few walkers out now as I approached the easy walking trails around the castle. There had only been half a dozen cars in the carpark when I’d arrived at 09:00 this morning. The large carpark was now full. Some cars were circling the carpark to see if anybody was actually leaving. The rain started again to give me a final soaking.    

Despite the weather it had turned out to be a surprisingly interesting walk. Maybe it was because of the weather, since the rainbows that formed were amazing. Burnbarrow and Scout Scars were spectacular formations and provided an excellent viewpoint over the wide Lyth Valley.   

It was now time to visit Sizergh Castle itself. An account of this can be found in NT Sizergh Castle And Gardens.