34

We celebrated our wedding anniversary today with a circular walk north of Austwick, taking in the Norber Erratics and Crummack Dale, surprisingly a walk new to us both.

The best of the weather was first thing so we took some time exploring the erratics left on the dale side by the retreating glacier. Originally these erratics of Silurian slate acted like umbrellas for the limestone beneath, preventing their erosion by the weather till now some of them are standing on pillars or balanced precariously as the limestone surrounding them has been worn away.

From the fields of erratics we climbed to the top of Thwaite Scars and crossed bands of limestone pavement with their familiar clints and grykes. The views were fabulous and, at one high point, we could see right across to the Lakeland Fells, Howgills and the windfarm out on Morecambe Bay. My blip is taken from the top of Thwaite Scars looking across Crummack Dale (where we would walk back down) to Pen y Gent in the distance.

At the head of the valley we descended to Thieves Moss, a large plateau carpeted with swathes of heather and boulders with numerous sink holes of varying sizes. Once across here we dropped down into Crummack Dale, stopping on a bridge over Austwick Beck to enjoy the views and eat our fruit pie with a welcome cuppa. Half a mile out of Austwick the threatening black clouds arrived and it was waterproofs on but the heavy shower did not spoil what was a lovely day and a fine way to celebrate our 34 years. Next year on this day Jen and Pete will marry and we will share this wedding anniversary. How special is that!

On the way home Tony suggested we complete our lovely day by eating out so we tried out Wharenui in Haworth for the first time, enjoying a very tasty meal of Polynesian Chicken and yummy choccy desserts. Grand!

I struggled to decide which blip to upload from our walk. If you would like to see more, look here.