The Meanderthals: DUNSOP BRIDGE

DOWN IN THE VALLEY 7+ Miles

VALLEY VENTURERS :- Anthony, Vic, Paddy, John W

Danny, Martin, Mike.

"Journey to the Centre of the Earth" ? We really can't compete with Jules Verne but read on....

Already to go as we fasten up prior to leaving Dunsop Bridge's almost "Pretty" car park

Just opposite the car park is, reputedly, the telephone box in

the geographical centre of England. (it has been disputed !)

The early morning sunshine cast long shadows as well as the promise of a great day for a walk.

Amongst a large herd of "White" sheep were a few "Black" sheep. Not naughty ones of course but possibly welsh Mountain sheep

Hello what's this ?

"That's a funny looking sheep" thinks Vic

Well ! well ! Not often we come across a Giraffe on our walks

.... But I'm sure a Giraffe could be quite happy in this lovely area.

The track soon led us to a bridge over the River Dunsop which we crossed to join the United Utilities tarmacked service road which we would follow to the head of the valley.

The road would gently rise along this remarkably scenic valley.

Coffee time had arrived and what better place to sit and drink in a forest than on a log pile

With the sides of the valley sheltering us from the cool breeze it was a great place to sit in the, by now, warm, Autumn sunshine.

Can't stay for ever though. Time to put our flasks away and plod on.

As we left our coffee site two cyclist came by. Mike stopped them to ask about the possibilities of a future bike ride for the Meanderthals.

We continued up the valley which continued to charm us with it's superb scenery.

Ahead of us we could now see "Middle Knoll". Here the valley would split the right hand branch becoming the Whitendale and the left the Brennand.

LOOK ! A pair of boots abandoned by the river. Has something dreadful happened here ?

A large articulated lorry was loading up with logs . It had passed us, empty, earlier on it's way up.

As we approached the water intake for the United Utilities the river assumed a slightly less than natural look.

The river now held a concrete fish ladder.

Middle Knoll now loomed before as we looked for a suitable place to have our lunch.

Some of us found a sheltered spot by the river to eat our butties.

While others found a sunny spot amongst the buildings and were rather reluctant to move as they "Snoozed " in the warm sunshine. ( Your writer is exaggerating their level of comatose restfulness.)

Leaving our picnic spot the road began to rise up quite steeply and two of our party decided to amble slowly back to our starting point and wait for us there in the rather quaint cafe - - "PUDDLE DUCKS" (that's the cafe NOT the walkers !)

Halfway up the steep slope the incongruously pretty Brennand Valley opened up to our left.

As we reached the top of the slope the road split and we began to drop down into the Brennand Valley.

John seems to think there is something worth seeing over there.

Almost winter and the gorse is blooming along the valley side.

Vic spotted this fungus lurking in the long grass. It is almost certainly "Fly Agaric" . Known to be poisonous though very few deaths have been accredited to it. Used in the past as an insecticide.

"Well, we'll close the gate and keep it out then." says Danny

The track led down to small bridge which in turn took us to " Brennand Farm"

Down we go to the aforesaid bridge

We had now turned our faces to the sun and our backs to the wind.

A couple of walks ago we passed a farm where they were building the very trendy and luxurious "shepherds huts". Here we found an original one. It had obviously been here a long time as the wheels had sunk into the grassy earth.

Now here's a novelty. "Super Dan" trailing behind us. His energy gone his batteries flat !...........

.....................................................................................................................................

.......... He had stopped to replace the batteries in his camera !!

It wasn't long before we reached the junction of the two valleys and began our return journey back to Dunsop Bridge . As we were now retracing our steps, photo opportunities were restricted

Oops... Missed an "M" (unless of course Lower Brennand WAS a long way away)

Back down into the main valley

The route now was simply a gentle downhill stroll back to our start. This was quite enjoyable with the sun low in the sky turning the world to silver and the wind comfortably at our backs.