A quick blast before tea in the Westmorland Borrowdale.

Leaving the house at 6pm into a darkening evening, I really hoped that the motivation would arrive once I left the car. Parking at Huck’s Bridge, and up on the old track from Borrowdale to Bretherdale, the smell of the bracken, the beck, and the stones underfoot meant I was soon lost in the rhythm of getting to the first gate and to one of the marked thunderstones on OS maps. These were meant to attract lightning, although I’m not quite prepared to test that empirically! Once the col is reached, the ground and the going becomes easier, as well as more interesting, and I’m able to concentrate on the view rather than the just physical effort, from Shap Quarry, to Orton and Tebay, the Pennines, and Eden Valley, the Howgills, and just round to Morecambe Bay.  Winterscleugh Fell  is so named after one of the former farmers from the valley.  Squelching along the wide ridge, there’s no one to be seen. Some Swaledale sheep, some fell ponies and larks are my only company, and I relish the solitude so close to home. Within two hours, I’m back in the kitchen, dripping with sweat, exhilarated, feeling like I have stolen something extra from the day.