251 Friday 17th January to Sunday 19th January 2025 Burton-in-Kendal weekend

 Predictably  our first  weekend  away  for  some  months took us back to Burton-in-Kendal. Ths  time our  journey  up  was without incident. For  the  first  time, we had an upper floor room.

We  had  breakfast  at  Gregg's  on the  Saturday  morning  then headed  north to  Appleby, a very picuresque drive. We  had  booked  tickets to Appleby Castle  and  parked there. The  video we  shot  can  be  seen here.

For  reasons  of  space, we had to lleave  out  our  circuit of the moat  which  was  very  pleasant.

After leaving  the  Castle, we  walked  down Castlegate looking  for  something to eat.

After some to-ing and  fro-ing we  setlled on a  cafe  near  the church . The  food  was  good  but  we  wee  too  close  to a  local  lady  who  seemed  helpful  at  first but  as  she  was  joined  by  her  son (?) , we  slowly  realised  they were  the  local  nutters.

After  lunch, we  went  to  the  church which  I  had  visited  some thirty years  earlier  on  the  Settle-Carlisle  Way. I  identified  the  tomb  of  Lady  Anne  Clifford.

We  also  admired  the  medieval  doorway.

After  that, we  returned  to  the  car  and  drove  to  Great Ormside. The  video we  shot  there can be  viewed  here in due  course.

On  the  return  to  Burton  we  followed  signposts  to  the  beauty  spot  of  Rutter Force.

We  then  returned to Burton. Later that evening I  drove  into  Milnthorpe for  a  chinese takewaway which we  devoured in our room.

On  Sunday  Simon wasn't  feelinng  well and  only  had  some  chips  from  Burger  King  for  breakfast. We  then  packed  up  and  drove  to  Milnthorpe  for  Mass. We  went  for  coffee afterwards then  made  an  abortive  attempt  to  find  the  remains  of  Cappelside  Hall  near  Beetham. 

I  managed  to  cajole  Simon  that  we  could  do  a  little  more  of  the  Westmorland  Heritage  Walk , taking  us  into  Sedbergh  and  then get a taxi  back. 

We  parked  in  a  layby  on  the  A4683  then  walked  up  Jordan's  Lane. The  lane  was  crossed by  a  viaduct for the old Ingleton Branch Line.

On  leaving  the  lane, there  were good views ahead.

After a very pleasant  walk through the fields , we came to the 17th century Abbot Holme Bridge over the river Dee.

Simon  was  really  flagging  by  this  point.

After that, it became a road walk , eventually crossing  the  river Rawthey.

Sedbergh now  lay  ahead beneath the fell of Winder.

We  found  a  cafe  for  lunch, Simon  regaining his appetite to  a  small extent. After  paying I asked  the  proprietor where we could  fid  a  taxi. She  gave  us  a  number but  it  only  led  to  an  answering machine, We went in  the  tourist  information centre for help. The  guy  behind  the  desk, named David,  tried a  couple  of  other  numbers but to  no  avail: they  didn't  operate on a Sunday Eventually he offered to drive  us back to the car himself when  he  packed up at 4 pm. We  spent  the  intervening period  mooching arond the village's main bookshop. David, bless him, dropped us  off at  the car  and  we  then drove home.