Meander From Morland

I had been checking the forecast for the past couple of days, of course the weather was to change this morning...our day off!! However the forecast did say it would be dry in the Eden Valley/Penrith area...so off we went. We almost lost faith as the rain hammered down over Shap Fell, but true enough as we approached Morland all was dry.

Having parked in the car park at the top of the village adjacent to the village hall, we dropped down to the bridge and beck. This building is an old mill.

This is Morland Beck, we would follow it for the first part of our ramble.

The beck has taken huge chunks out of its banks during the storms of last winter.

Having left Morland Beck a little rise and we dropped down to the River Lyvennet, here in the grounds of Crossrigg Hall. This bridge which the bridleway passes over is cast iron, unusual hereabouts. Some of its supports are broken so tractors etc have to ford the river rather than use it.

Following the river for a while we crossed it again on a footbridge (this is taken from it). There are stepping stones in the centre of this photo, although a crucial stone has moved!

back to the village through Town Wood, lots of mature trees in here. It was very sheltered, there were many shrubs and trees starting to bud. 

The village garage has seen better days, bit of an eyesore really:-(
The old Morris traveller is sat there just rotting away...shame.

This is the really rather splendid village church of St Lawrance, it has the only Saxon Tower in the Northwest and dates from 1050!
Not a long walk only about 3-4 miles the information board said it was waymarked, but we saw none. It's becoming increasingly difficult to find new paths with out travelling to far, but this was all new to us. Excellent!