Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Leave the Market Place (opposite the Pennine Hotel) by a short lane past
public conveniences, and descending Stoneshot (of poachers fame!) to
swing left and meet the River Eden at Frank's Bridge.
THE RIVER EDEN
The source of the River Eden is high up on the slopes of Mallerstang, on Black Fell Moss,
not far, in fact, from the birthplace of the Ure, and of the Swale, the river that will
shortly accompany the walk for a good part of the remainder of its journey. The Eden,
rising in a wild and magnificent setting, soon settles down to a sedate meander through
its lush and fertile vale, finally condescending to meet the Solway Firth near Carlisle.
To gaze on Eden's loveliness is to appreciate how apt is its name, 'fetched from para-
dise and rightfully borne' (Wordsworth). To travel its length is quite another story, and
one evocatively told by Neil Hanson, sometime landlord of the Tan Hill pub, in his topic
Walking through Eden
.
Cross Frank's Bridge, where an ever-present assembly of ducks sets up a
cacophony of appeals for food, and turn right to follow the river for a short
distance until it swings away, right, and then follow a path ahead, through
gates, and by a quiet lane into the hamlet of Hartley.
HARTLEY
Hartley is a delightful place on the road to nowhere, 'A company of limes by a stream,
silver birches, a little bridge, a few houses below the grandeur of the Pennines, this
is Hartley, a quiet spot under a hill over 2000 feet high, with nine great stone cairns
centuries old.'
Search WWH ::
Custom Search