Oddendale

Autumn at Oddendale

A wild walk east of Shap, having parked beside the plantation of Castlehouse Scar we headed through the plantation and on to the low ridge. This has several antiquities on it, a cairn and a cairn circle, both were visited. The circle is composed of Shap Granite boulders, there are many erratic's in the area so they would certainly be handy for the circle builders. The footpath enters a walled lane, and this bridleway takes you across the fell to "Oddendale", several homesteads and a working farm. This must be a bleak spot in winter, confirmed after a chat with one of the residents. The route led us down the shallow valley to "High Dalebanks", here a path took us upward via the farm of "Haber". This was a desperate spot, an air of decay, desperation and vicious chained up dogs. My advice to anyone walking this way is BEWARE! Ascending a good track "High Haber" was soon reached this was a barn conversion to eco-home which looked like it had run out of money, a shame as it occupied a grand location.Just a simple walk back over the low ridge remained to bring us back to the car.