Pause to explore the amazing Megger Stones (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Pause to explore the amazing Megger Stones

4:20pm Friday 30th September 2011

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Park in the large pleasing pay and display car park at Dent, grid ref 703871. There are toilets here.

Information

Distance: 6 miles

Time: 3-4 miles

Terrain: Some rough tracks, muddy after rain. Very pleasing paths along riverside. Short pathless climb to Megger Stones

Map: OS Explorer OL 2

It is always a pleasure to start a walk at the pretty village of Dent. The ramble takes you up interesting Flinter Gill but the climb is a long one so take plenty of breaks to enjoy the views. Pause on the high fell to explore the amazing Megger Stones. On your return through the village there are no pavements; the cobbles stretch from doorway to doorway. Once galleries jutted overhead, making passage difficult for hay carts. It was on these galleries that the ‘terrible knitters’ sat. Men, women and children knitted at home and on their way to the fields to work to supplement their meagre income.

1 Cross the road from the car park and take the lane opposite, as indicated by a blue sign, to reach the village green. Keep ahead with the delightful grassy area to your left. Cross the next road and go on past the old Zion Chapel, now a Meditation Centre. Soon, cottages that once housed weavers are left behind and you arrive at the foot of a rough track, which keeps to the right of Flintergill, a beautiful cleft, lined with deciduous trees and through which tumbles a noisy lively beck. A sign, ‘dancing flags,’ on a tree, directs you left to a large expanse of flat rock slabs where the weavers ‘waulked’ their newly woven cloth. Continue up the steep track, go through a gate and on by an ancient oak, known as the ‘wishing tree.’ Further up the steep way a narrow but easy path leads to the foot of some splendid falls on the dancing beck.

2 Carry on where the track is less steep to High Ground Barn, on the right. Go through the gate to visit this tiny museum set in a wonderfully restored barn, once a ruin. Here is housed a collection of old farming machinery and implements displayed in the old cattle ‘bosses’ or stalls. There are also some interesting pictures. Return to the track and just beyond on the left is a recently excavated limekiln. Head on up the track to a stile on the right. Beyond, take the signed path up to a magnificent viewpoint and a toposcope. Return to the track and stride on up, out of the trees, climbing more gently now. There are long grassy ridges through the muddy bits that help you make progress. Ahead is a seat for a break after your long but pleasing climb. Then go on to a T-junction of tracks.

3 Turn left on to Green Lane, also known as the Occy or Occupation Lane. This title derives from the time when it was reclaimed from the moorland or occupied. After three quarters of a mile, having past several elderly gates in the wall, look for two farm gates opposite to each other. Take the one on the right, and turn right, and follow a tractor-marked way climbing a slope. The ‘tramlines’ run out almost at the top, but by then you can glimpse the Megger Stones on top of the ridge. Turn left and head up rough ground to them. These cairns are well constructed but no-one knows their history. Were they built by nearby quarry workers to help them find their way back down to the village from the quarry in the mist? Enjoy the superb views over to Barkin Top and along the valley towards Sedbergh and also into lovely Dentdale. This is the place for your lunch, the base of the stones providing a seat and the cairns large enough to act as a wind break. Then descend by the same route to the gate and walk on to where the Occy turns away right.

4 Bear left here to descend the wide rough Nun House Outrake, which drops steadily through the moorland, then quite steeply through trees where the track narrows. It also shares its descent with a spring, but at High Nun House you join a dry concrete track where its verges are colourful with flowers. On reaching a narrow lane, cross and drop down a signed hedged footpath at the side of farm buildings. Go through a gate and across part of the farmyard to go through through a second gate. Continue gently down beside the hedge on your right and wind round with it to a gate to Scow, a group of picturesque buildings. Turn sharp left as directed by the signpost and walk across the pasture to a second signpost. Go ahead to pass through a small gate, with a limekiln close by, into another pasture. Walk on, pass through a derelict wall on the left to stroll through another small gate. Dawdle on a distinct path through a pleasing hay meadow. Look out for a right turn into the trees where a short narrow path drops down to a track close to the river. Turn left and walk a few steps to the road, with Mill Bridge to your right. Cross the road and take the signposted way a step or two along to the left.

5 From now a gated path takes you along the side of Deepdale Beck to where it joins the River Dee. The path then continues close to the water where you might spot a kingfisher. Again there are lots of easy gates along the way as you pass through hay meadows and pastures. Eventually the path leads away from the river to a wooden bridge. Beyond the immediate hedge, turn sharp right and walk on to the road at Church Bridge. Carry on left into the delightful village.

NB: Restrictions on space mean that this article provides a general summary of the route. It is advisable for anyone who plans to follow the walk to take a copy of the relevant Ordnance Survey map.