Towtop Kirk

It took me a while to get going again today. I’d made the mistake of blinking and one of my courgettes had turned into a small marrow. So it was a case of 101 ways to kill a courgette... starting with courgette cake. I was literally stopped in my tracks for a while with tears of laughter listening to ‘I’m sorry, I haven’t a clue’.

Although I felt like going somewhere the thought of the volume of visitors put me off venturing out far so I got on my bike and headed over to Helton and then up the fellside in search of Towtop Kirk which has often caught my eye on the map - an early Christian enclosure. The first extra shows some of the stones. It’s in a very evocative space with long views towards the Pennines and set above Cawdale Beck crossed by a lovely old clapper bridge (second extra). I couldn’t help but feel the cotton grass blowing in the wind were like prayer flags. It was a bit of a long climb up but it was a case of weeeeeeeee all the way back down again. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1011591
Home to stuffed courgette, a bit of courgette fritter and considering courgette soda bread ... and looking at aerial views of the site which show the site structure more clearly than on the ground.