Heughscar Hill

An information board on the outskirts of Askham informed us that the underlying limestone on the fell was on vacation from the Equator. It had taken 330 million years to get here and was once a tropical coral reef. Hard to believe really. It wasn't long before we past our first exposed limestone pavement.

We headed into a strong wind that was heavy with drizzle. Quite soon, our trousers were getting wet and so we put on our over-trousers. They would stay on for the rest of the day. A good grassy path led us up to our one and only Explorer hill on the walk, Heughscar Hill. Wainwright described this hill as '...a gem for aged hill walkers.' Having recently entered a new decade of my life, I wondered whether this should now be my new baseline for walks. There was a small cairn at the summit. Photos taken, we headed off a little west of north into the greyness and drizzle.

The Cockpit

At Heugh Scar we turned around and started heading a little west of south. This offered a fine view along the length of Ullswater. It would have been even finer if the sun had been out and the hills at the end of the lake hadn't been decapitated by cloud. Askham Fell has a plethora of tracks. Many more than was shown on the OS map. Rather than trying to find the actual paths that I'd planned on the OS map, I just chose ones that headed generally in the desired direction.

After a while we came to a large stone circle called The Cockpit. It was 27 metres across and quite impressive. Its use is a mystery but some learned academics say it was used  as the boundary for an early form of a game know as Hungry Hippos.  Our route then took us past another small standing stone know as Threepow Raise. This is a boundary stone and has an 'L' on its east side.

More Stones

The track now got quite soggy as it gradually bent around eastwards to the Helton road. We walked a few hundred metres along the road to where some cars had parked on the grassy verges. This parking spot was obviously a quick way on to the fell for those in the know. A grassy path took us north westwards to a large standing stone known as the Cop Stone. It stands on a man-made bank about 20 metres in diameter, although it was hard to see visual evidence of this. There were supposed to be 10 other stones around the perimeter, but these seemed to have disappeared. There are 2 other standing stones not far away known as the Moor Divock Stones. There seems to be an alignment between these, another nearby stone circle and the outcrop of Heughscar Hill. Is this by chance or design? Who knows. As well as the stone circles, the Pulpit Holes drew my curiosity on the OS map. We headed over to them and discovered a number of deep sink holes. All of this was quite impressive.

Return To Askham

After a damp, grey start I thought the day had turned out pretty well. It isn't every day that you can work over a 330 million year old coral reef. The collection of stone circles and standing stones made one wonder at their purpose and the legions of people who had pondered  their use over the eons. The views weren't bad either. It was an ideal route for such a drizzly, low cloud level day. I mentioned these beneficial attributes of today's walk to the Kapitan and the Cabin Boy. After a pause, that must have been for consideration, the Kapitan said 'There was too much dog shit about; the owners need to get them under control.' The Cabin Boy immediately chirped in 'I also saw some on one of the standing stones. God knows how it managed to get it up there.' I told them that I'd ensure that their valued comments were added to my TripAdvisor entry.

The outdoor swimming pool was still shut when we got back to Askham. Never mind, I'd just have to have a hot shower when I got back to the house. As we de-booted, I saw that the Kapitan was wiping some dog shite off his hands with a hanky. He claimed that it was only cow dung. 'Well, that's okay then' I said as I double layered a tarpaulin on to the seat where he was going to sit in my car.