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From Lawson's Field, across the Lune valley towards Clougha Pike
We crossed Waterworks Bridge to enter Lawson’s Wood and admire the bluebells. There was a fine but not the most fulsome display, we thought. The bracken, bramble and other undergrowth has advanced so much that the bluebells weren’t in their usual isolated glory. It has not rained for two weeks and we’ve had at least ten hours of sunshine on all but one of those days, so we cannot blame the bracken and bramble for thinking it was time to get a move on. At least the bluebells are proper British ones, upstanding and deep blue, not the so-called Spanish bluebells, frilly and light blue, that are taking over our gardens. Government regulations require me to make a comment about Brexit at this point but I cannot be bothered. Oh, I already have.
Bluebells in Lawson's Wood
We emerged from the wood to follow our new path on the opposite bank of the Lune. First, we paused to watch the sand martins circling around and in and out of about thirty tunnels where, three weeks ago, we had spotted our first sand martins (Sauntering 79). It was interesting to view the Lune from a different perspective. We could see – especially now that the river was so low – the extensive masonry placed in the river to protect the banks on ‘our side’ from further erosion. As we walked on we saw too much Japanese knotweed, where later in the summer there will be too much Himalayan balsam (any at all is too much). We passed where the farmer boldly fords the river in his tractor and where we once, even more boldly, paddled over. We could do so now, the river being so low, but we pressed on.
Sand martin nests pitting the opposite bank
Inland, the floodplain was totally quiet, apart from the birds, and totally flat, apart from some old river channels. There were extensive views to the Yorkshire Three Peaks, unobscured by the smoke that usually drifts from the Claughton Brickworks chimneys. We passed close by Over Lune Barn, which we have seen hundreds of times from the opposite side of the river, and continued on a bank, now far from the river, that may well have been the river bank 200 years ago ( Sauntering 81). It was too warm for somnolent cows to stir themselves. At the river bend, where many large tree trunks had been deposited by floods, we took the shortcut (sshhh) back to Lawson’s Wood.
Looking up-river towards Ingleborough, with sand martins in the air
On the way back we saw a yellow butterfly. A brimstone? We don’t remember seeing brimstones here before.
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© John Self, Drakkar Press, 2018-
Top photo: The western Howgills from Dillicar; Bottom photo: Blencathra from Great Mell Fell