The August Ramble – Crooklands & Peasey Beck
The walk this month found us in the pleasant rolling countryside on the Lancashire-Cumbria border and we were promised good weather, scenery and a glimpse of our industrial heritage.
Starting from the site of the Westmorland Agricultural Show, near Crooklands, we quickly arrived at the Kendal canal and headed north. At this point, the canal has been drained in places, but this doesn’t detract from its beauty. After a while, we arrived at the impressive portals of the 378 yards long Hincaster Tunnel, which we were informed, was designed by a John Fletcher and was built between 1816-1817, using four million bricks and at the time was the biggest brick built structure north of the Mersey.
The barges were pulled through the tunnel by chains or “legged”. The horses were taken around by a path which we used and after a quick look at the north side, started our ascent of Tunnel Hill, crossed the A590 and continued climbing to a high point, followed by a descent to a farm, Well Heads, at which point we crossed the West Coast Main Line by means of a little tunnel and stopped for a leisurely lunch.
After lunch, we soon started to cross the middle of a huge corn field. We felt that we had left our home ground and arrived in Indiana. Someone told us to look out for Cary Grant and that crop – spraying bi-plane!
Leaving the Corn Belt behind, we continued up and down hill, across fields, with good views all around and eventually arrived at the village of Summerlands and on to Endmoor. From here, we joined Peasey Beck and followed this pretty stream to Crooklands. On this section of the walk, another bit of local history presented itself. The remains of the horse-drawn tramway could be seen. This system linked the Wakefields Gunpowder factory with the railway at Milnthorpe and the canal at Crooklands.
From Crooklands, we entered the canal for the short walk back to the show-ground. Many thanks to Janet and Jim for a beautiful, varied and very interesting walk.
Linda & Eddie Grange