Springtime Rambling

Hi friends! How was your weekend?

We had glorious weather yesterday — the result of a much talked about heatwave (initially, I was skeptical, but it did get warm … even hot!).  And, as luck would have it, we had plans to meet up with two good friends for a bit of a ramble.  Originally, we had our sights set on Ingleborough, but with weather so nice, we knew lots of people would have the same idea.  So we opted instead for a bit of walking among the fells in South Lakeland, outside the small village of Barbon.

A beautiful walk on a sunny day sounds perfect in almost any situation. But add to it that it’s spring, and the ewes were out with their lambs in the fields, and I was as pleased as could be.

After walking out of town, we came into a wood … filled with bluebells!

After a lovely walk through the woods (including the most delicious smelling pine stand), we came out onto Barkin Beck

We then proceeded to try to make our way up a fell (note the use of the word try)

First we came to Bullpot Farm

Just beyond, we found old, possibly lime, kilns (if Google’s to be believed!) — we ate lunch atop them!

Our wandering then began in earnest.  At first, there were plenty of fields (with sheep!)

At a point we (maybe) took a sheep path instead of the actual path, which led to us wandering back and forth across Leck Beck.

Which was gorgeous … until our friend lost his glasses while paddling about in one of the many pools we found along the beck

At which point our leisurely wanderings took on a slightly more frantic character, as we realized we were losing the day, our friend couldn’t see very far, and we didn’t know quite where we were

It was still a beautiful day.

But we ended up cutting up a very large fell (my legs are feeling it today!), unsure if we were in an area where we had the right to roam or not.

After some very rigorous climbing, we finally regained the road … where we learned all of our concerns about our possible trespassing were for naught

We still had a good several miles back to Barbon, where we parked. There were more lambs!

We walked along a long road where we kept seeing large boulders enclosed by stone walls.  We amused ourselves trying to guess what they were and finally found out they were part of an art installation called Sheepfolds by Andy Goldsworthy.

And I couldn’t help but notice all the beautiful colors on the stone walls … ever since taking my Felicity Ford class, I see colorwork inspiration everywhere!

We were all knackered after a much longer walk than we anticipated (and a bit sunburned!) but very happy to have spent a day out in such a beautiful spot (glasses mishap aside).  We had a quiet ramble with a variety of landscapes, animals, birds, flowers …

We woke up this morning to rain … but I didn’t mind.  Perfect weather for knitting and planning future adventures!

And the sun even came out this afternoon … though my muscles, I’ll admit, were not in a state for another eleven mile walk today!

Hope you’ve had a pleasant weekend — would love to hear about your adventures in the comments!

xo K