C2C Day 6 – Bampton Grange to Orton
The sound of bells from the church across the road from the Crown and Mitre was a charming start to this Sunday morning. We left the village in drizzling rain with our waterproofs on. We took the easy option back to the C2C by following the road to Rosgill Bridge, rather than retracing our steps to Burnbanks and following the C2C route across wet fields. The slog along Haweswater must have affected our psyche.
The route to Shap Abbey crossed a stone packhorse bridge over Swindale Beck, then farm tracks shared with a flock of sheep, and green fields beside the River Lowther. At the remains of Shap Abbey, founded in the 12th century and destroyed in 1540 during Henry VIII's rage against the church, Mary found a flock of ferocious fowls who demanded a share of our morning tea.
'Sheep walking the C2C'
'Mary feeds the chooks, Shap Abbey in the background'
From Shap Abbey we followed roadside paths to Shap where we lunched on a bench at a bus stop under black clouds. But we had no rain from soon after we left Bampton Grange until we reached Orton.
'Shap under a black cloud'
Several reality checks followed as we crossed first the north-south rail line, then the M6, within sight of a cement works and then a limestone quarry. Having dispensed with these signs of industry, we returned to the peace of Crosby Ravensworth Fell, a heather covered moorland with limestone outcrops and occasional large rocks deposited by retreating glaciers after the last ice age. The U-shaped valleys we had walked along and across in the Lakes were gouged out by these glaciers.
'Reality intrudes'
Mary was alarmed by a large, horned, shaggy beast guarding the path across the moors. It moved away as we passed by. Just past the shaggy beast, we were saved from taking the wrong track, which some of our fellow C2Cers did, by the suggestion in Steadman's guidebook to aim for two trees when crossing the limestone pavements.
'Shaggy beast guarding the path'
'Aim for the two trees over the limestone pavement'
The green vale surrounding Orton was a pleasant change after the bleak moors of Crosby Ravensworth. The path into Orton crossed green, stone-walled fields, then entered woods beside a stream. In the woods we chatted to a fellow who was picking sloe berries to make sloe gin for Christmas. The woods merged into gardens at the edge of the village, and little arched stone bridges crossed the stream giving access to the houses.
'Crosby Ravensworth moors'
'Orton's green, stone-walled fields'
Our arrival at Mostyn House created a minor panic – the wife of the house who usually manages the B&B had been called away suddenly leaving the husband in charge, and he was trying to cope with an apparent double booking. He was preparing a spare attic room when we arrived. He was relieved when we gave our names as we weren't part of the double booking, and showed us to a pleasant room for a shower and tidy-up.
In the evening we walked in light rain down to the George Hotel for dinner. The sign outside the pub read 'Customers wanted – no experience necessary, full training given, apply within'. We happily applied and were duly trained!
'The George Hotel'
After the exhilaration of walking in the Lakes, this day was gentle, easy walking in a very different landscape. We were seeing another face of rural England, and that contrast was part of the pleasure of the C2C.