Ravenseat Circular
A 12km circular today taking in high moorland over to Ravenseat. This was the subject of a television series a few years ago and is a remote sheep farm in a beautiful location.
The first part of the walk duplicated yesterday, but we soon veered off in a new direction up onto a remote moor. The weather was perfect – blue sky all day. Visibility was good, but the tracks are hard to find. GPS navigation really helps.
There are countless cow houses dotted all over the landscape. These date from the seventeenth century and were used to house cows over winter.
They are a really solid design and all still seem to be standing and in use.
After a pleasant lunch by a small brook, we began the climb up to Ravenseat.
On the way up was a beautiful veteran sycamore. The single girth was huge and two stout stems emerge 4 foot from the floor.
There was a hollowed out section on one of the stems which would be a perfect owl nest.
It’s rare to see any trees at all on the high ground, so special to see something so old.
From Ravenseat, I took the high path back to Keld which went via West Stonesdale. This was tricky navigation as the path wasn’t visible at all across the top, so the going was boggy. But it was worth the detour for the river walk that led down to the lower path and back to Keld.
In the evening there was a reminder of the real hazards of living so remotely. The power circuits in the cottage tripped and I couldn’t find the fusebox anywhere. But of course, there is no mobile signal and the landline didn’t work because of no power.
So I had to drive up to Tan Hill which is about 4 miles away, high up in the moor so I could get a signal to phone the cottage owner. It’s pretty hairy on those single track roads at night, and I wondered what would happen if I broke down with no signal.
Anyway, in the end I got through and managed to locate the fusebox to fix the problem.
