Bullpot

Between 1997 and 1999, I lived with my ex-wife and my four older daughters in a house just above Barbon. The only run I did from there went out along Barbondale, crossed the bridge at Barkin Beck and returned, going beneath Barbon Manor, down the hill climb to the church, and then back up the (steep) hill to Bank Cottage, where we lived. 

I've always loved that run and these days I often run out from Kirkby Lonsdale to do it as part of a longer outing. Recently, though, when I was short of time, I decided to drive out to the lay-by where the A683 crosses Barbon Beck and do the run from there. 

And it all went very well until I went over the bridge and ran back towards the woods below Barbon Manor: the footpath was closed while some trees were being felled. Well, I had a bit of an adventure, scrambling down to and then crossing the beck, before making my way up the other side. It was a lot more work than it sounds!

That was weeks ago, though, and I was pretty sure the wood clearing would have been done by now, so I ran out that way from Kirkby Lonsdale, this morning. As I ran along the road above Barbon, I could see the Manor more clearly than ever before: they'd felled a lot of trees! Then, as I ran along Barbondale, I tried to see across to the path on the other side and, as I feared, it appeared to still be closed. 

I hate turning around when I'm running so my only alternative was to carry on down towards the bridge and then turn up the path to Bullpot Farm. Although advertised as a footpath, the route is really little more than the path of a stream, which, fortunately, was quite dry following all the recent sunny weather. My feet hardly got wet at all. 

I stopped maybe a third of the way up to take this photo, which, I feel, fails to capture how steep a climb it is. (You can see the path carrying on up to the left.) It was great, though; I could feel the work in my legs but I didn't have any real problems keeping going all the way to the top. 

Mind you, I felt it later on. The Minx and I took Dan and Abi out for tea at Ireby Green Farm, which is a lovely place to visit. They have a little, one mile walk that goes around their fields, which Dan and Abi seemed surprisingly keen to do. I didn't want to discourage them and I thought it'd be good to walk off the stiffness in my legs but the climb up the field to the 'view point' was a lot more achey than it should have been!

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-10.7 kgs
Reading: 'Refining Sound' by Brian K Shepard