Another walk out to the impressive Smardale viaduct.
On the way back I insisted on diverting to the bridge over the old Stainmore railway line, and – yes! – they were steaming. An appropriate and perfect end to the walk.
Smardale
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Monthly Archives: July 2025
Warcop
Bus to Warcop on this blisteringly hot day. The plan was to follow the Pennine Journey path to Brough and back to Kirkby Stephen, but progress was inevitably slow. At Little Musgrave we changed to a more direct route – the right decision. I’m disappointed that I didn’t spot the disused railway line over Scandal Beck, but I was restored by seeing children swimming in the river with obvious pleasure. I felt very envious!
It was a day for seeking shade: I liked the silhouette of sheep’s ears as they sheltered under a tree. The cricketers at Kirkby Stephen had no such luxury.
Kirkby Stephen
A pleasant, familiar walk along the old railway lines of the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway.
Penrith day 2
A little walk to see Yanwath pele tower and back via Rheged on a hot day before I caught the late afternoon bus to Kirkby Stephen.
With front and back windows open to keep air circulating, I can hear traffic at the front and swifts at the back.
Penrith
I’m back in Penrith: always a pleasure, never a chore.
The garden today
How to sum up the garden in three words? Verdant, scented, bountiful? Overgrown, haphazard, defensive? Both combinations are accurate. The new Harlow Carr rose in its planter looks and smells lovely. Tiger lilies, jasmine and honeysuckle perfume the evening air. I can’t keep up with harvesting gooseberries, raspberries and blackberries. (I’m almost glad the wood pigeons got the unnetted redcurrants last month.) I’m eating new potatoes and mangetout peas. The purple clematis is finally in its pomp, and the astrantias have come up white this year. We have been (ahem) “fortunate” enough to have had plenty of rain, so everything looks happy.
But . . .
Keeping on top of pests is never-ending: soft fruit is netted against magpies, wood pigeons (boo hiss) and blackbirds, and I’ve tried to make vegetable beds into cat minefields. Plus some more cat scarers. Parts of the garden need a flame-thrower or machete: yesterday I hoed a patch of ground elder at the base of the hedge, and I daren’t go down to the bottom of the garden for fear of finding more to do.
Old Shoe Box 