Ramshaw

 It was a beautiful day around 17/18 degrees and feeling really warm I have walked around here before but using a different walking book which gave directions for a 2 ¾ mile walk.  The book was using today gave directions for a 4 ¾ miles so hopefully I’d go somewhere a little different.  The walk set off from Carleton and took me up a side road called the Wend.  This was familiar territory.  Passing a lovely old barn on the right I went through a field and followed the line of the beck through the fields to drop down and cross over the beck. 

  Climbing up the other side looking back the views were stunning today.  I could see Cracoe war memorial and Rhylstone cross on th skyline with Crookrise cragg behind.

The next 15 minutes were pretty much uphill to Gawthorpe House – from here I took a downward track to where I wasn’t sure which way to go I took a right turn to eventually reach a wall where there was supposed to be a stile into the road. 

No Stile.  I didn’t want to go all the way back so found a wall with good stones to scramble over. Out on the road referred back to book and took the instructions to go left at T junction.  Going down here I actually found the right stile and looking back could see where I should have gone. 

 I could also see a large field full of goats which is not something you often see.  I now referred back to book.  Directions now meant re-trace steps back to T junction and bear left down a different road.  After a short while I turned off the road to Tewit Cote farm road.

Here were a group who at first I thought were having a picnic but as I went past I suddenly heard a loud buzzing and looking back they were flying drones and using large hoops in the ground as a course to take the drones through.  They were a lot louder than I thought they would be, as I stopped to watch they seemed to be racing one another and were going a lot faster than I thought they would too. Suddenly one of them crashed into a hoop. Time to be on my way I think.  

I turned off the grassland through a stile and back onto moorland.  

As I came to a dip there was a crossroads of footpaths and settled on the one ahead, I hadn’t gone far when I thought Id check the way on my OS map on my phone – yep as I thought I’d gone wrong – retraced my steps back to the crossroads and went through a gate, the way was obvious now a well-used trod made its way through the heather eventually dropping down a path I had been on before on other walks. 

 From here through fields to emerge on Carleton Biggin drive, 

down to a stile on the left through a couple more fields onto a lane and back down the road into Carleton.  Good walk made into a 5 miler with my two or three wrong turns.  I was really warm now the day had just got warmer as the afternoon went on. I was ready for a drink and tea.