Date & Time: Tuesday 9th January 2007. 3 pm start. ( NY 086 185 )

Location of Start : Mountain Road between Lamplugh and Ennerdale, Cumbria Uk.

Places visited : Murton Fell track to Lamplugh Fell Plantation.

Walk details : 2.75 mls, 575 ft of ascent , 1 hrs 20 mins.

Walked with : Ann and the dogs.

Weather : Grey and overcast, threatening rain but none arrived.

The forestry sign on the Murton Fell track

 

Given the chance to get out of the house between the rain showers, we loaded the dogs in the car and drove relatively locally to enjoy a slight change of scene.

This walk follows the forestry track in the shadow of Knock Murton, a delightful fell of dramatic shape and a lofty 1500 ft (447m) but ignored by Mr Wainwright on his round of the major fells.

We ignored it today as well as we stayed low, out of the wind and potential rain.

The rain of recent days has saturated the ground and pools like this are evident in many of the fields locally.

The dark waste heap behind the car, on the other side of the road, is the remnants of iron ore mining activity locally.

We take the track that leads across the side of Knock Murton.

Harry taking two goes at the stile is already starting to turn a nice shade of iron-red

This roadway must have been used by many different people over the years. Traffic would have included workers in early mining days, more recently forestry and farming people, and increasingly of course, leisure users like ourselves and the runner ahead of us in his dayglo jacket.

Alongside the track, just visible on the photo above, was the track bed of an old railway which used to serve the mines.

The western side of Knock Murton has quite extensive evidence of mining which the railway would have supported in the early part of the last century.

   
We skirted the wood, past some old waste tips
The bare tree still waiting for the full force of winter to arrive.

Passing between Knock Murton and Saddler's Knott we start to glimpse Cogra Moss reservoir and its pools.

A full reservoir and a full wetland bog behind. Scotland is virtually missing from the picture today.

The shapely peak of Knock Murton itself, now with its skirt of forestry on it's eastern side.

   
We walked a short distance further before turning back . . .
. . . . using the track through the forestry this time.

Blake Fell, ahead of us as we turned, looked cold and damp with its cloud covered top.

   
Warning - one of several mine shafts fenced off for safety.
Back to the main track and the forest gate

We finished of the afternoon by going visiting.

Bethan and Harry, the two tone red ones, contrasted with our friend Sophie's cleaner golden retrievers.

Harvey, Daisy and Bailey.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with a Canon G7 Digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . a garden large enough to fit five busy dogs.

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Previous walk - 5th January 2007 Low Fell with Ann on a Changeover Day

A previous time up here - 27th August 2003 The Ennerdale Show

Next walk - 10th January 2007 Sun and a view of the snow from Whinlatter