The earlier walk was on the same old railway track but a little to the east between Stenkrith and Hartley, starting by the spectacular Stenkrith falls under the Millennium Bridge.
Both of these walks are very easy, being on the level. I've blogged about the Stenkrith walk on my main Around-England.co.uk blog. The Eden Valley is a special place for walking. There are so many options, from easy walks like these to more strenuous routes such as those up Mallerstang and along to Nine Standards Rigg, or on the opposite side of the upper valley up to the cairns on Wild Boar Fell. One of my aspirations is to follow the course of the River Eden and to photograph all bridges and its feeder becks from Hellgill Force to Temple Sowerby, and maybe later to the coast.
I was extremely disappointed today at the decision of the planning committee at the Lake District National Park to reject the proposal by Honister Slate Mine to install a modern "Zip Wire" close to the position of the the one built in the 1920s for carrying slate. This one would have carried people, that is those people who had previously climbed up the Via Ferrata, and who now would glide back down on the wire.
This would have been an excellent addition to the existing visitor facilities and was expected to appeal to, and increase the numbers of Cumbria's younger visitors. The decision today was extremely shortsighted. I have dealt with the general principles as I see them in a long Opinion Piece "To Protect? Or To Preserve?" on my Around-England blog. I also commented on the Guardian North of England blog.
Lake District needs to be protected, and especially from those who want to hold back sensible tourism development. If it stays the same, without innovation, the economy of the county will slowly die. I know there are some who believe that they're fighting for the public interest versus economic growth. The fact is, however, that economic growth and the public interest of the people of Cumbria are on the same side. The development had the support of the County Council and the Tourist Board among many others. I have to ask which "public" is going to benefit from this backward-looking decision. A sad day!
It is no insult to the Lake District to say that often I wish when reading about Cumbria there was less emphasis on the central Lake District locations and more attention given to the outer areas of the county. They get a rough deal.
In the past I've blogged about the Eden Valley but yesterday I spent part of the day visiting Workington, Maryport and Cockermouth. I have to say that the Workington visit was not too successful as the place I wanted to see was closed. My walk around Maryport harbour area, though, was very enjoyable as was a visit to the Senhouse Roman Museum.
I'll be writing more about it shortly but last night wrote a short piece on Cockermouth on the Around-England blog.
I'm just old enough to remember being able to catch a train from Ulverston to Coniston, or to Lakeside at the foot of Windermere. Having said that, however, I confess to some considerable surprise at discovering the extent of the railway network that surrounded the Lake District in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Lost Railways of Cumbria provides an excellent description of that past era in Cumbrian transport history. It will give hours of pleasure both to railway enthusiasts and to lovers of the Lakeland county.
Recently I've been visiting, photographing and writing about the castles owned by the 17th century Duchess of Pembroke, Lady Anne Clifford. Although Skipton Castle in West Yorkshire was her primary home, and today is still well-preserved, several of the others were in the Eden Valley in Cumbria just outside the Lake District boundary.
Pendragon Castle in Mallerstang, Brough Castle and Brougham Castle are all now in varying states of collapse and disrepair (although made safe for visitors) but in her day Lady Anne renovated them all. Appleby Castle is the best preserved of her major properties this part of the country.
Brougham Castle was her favourite, and it was there that she died (in her late 80s, a great age at that time). She was buried in Appleby church.
Several articles are on around-england.co.uk and in the meantime here is a picture of Brougham Castle by the River Eamont, a tributary of the Eden.
A couple of days ago I posted on the Around-England blog a photo of Dufton Pike. Tonight from the village of Brampton, near Appleby, using my phone because I had no camera with me, I took this photo of Dufton Pike against the backcloth of the North Pennines in the late evening sunlight.
