...in which we set out from springtime Orton to explore the limestone scars of the Westmorland Dales in the company of husband-and-wife geologist / botanist team Syvia and Peter Woodhead. Alongside bubbling Chapel Beck, we encounter early flowers and a lively March hare as we learn about the geological origins of limestone - in distant coral seas some 350 million years ago. Arriving on Orton Scar, with its big-sky panoramas, we reflect on the industrial processing of lime – for agriculture and construction – and observe the 'lasagne' layering of different eras of deposition. Passing limestone pavement on the shoulder of Knott – grikes forming micro-climates for an abundance of rare plants – we encounter myriad fossils, of corals, gastropods and sponges, that record cycles of life and mass extinction. Chased by a storm that never arrives, we finish our walking circuit at Gamelands Stone Circle, where we reflect on the power and legacy of ice.
For more about the Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership project, see friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/westmorland-dales-hidden-landscapes-partnership
The GeoTrail walks can be found at friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/westmorland-dales-geotrails-2022
For Cumbria GeoCoonservation see cumbriageoconservation.org.uk
Countrystride #44: Christmas past - A Wetheral wander
Countrystride #43: Shap & The Postman's Path
Countrystride #42: Cumbria on film
Countrystride #41: Harriet Martineau - The roving Laker
Countrystride #40: Bill Lloyd - Into the woods
Countrystride #39: Thirlmere - and the flooding of a valley
Countrystride #38: James Rebanks - English Pastoral
Countrystride #37: Hardwicke Rawnsley - Lakeland champion
Countrystride #36: A Walney Wander
Countrystride #35: The children's literature of Lakeland
Countrystride #34: Caring for the commons- A view from Newlands
Countrystride #33: A brief history of Cumbria
Countrystride #32: Lady Anne Clifford - First lady of Westmorland
Countrystride #31: Cumbrian folk music and the Back o'Skiddaw
Countrystride #30: Buttermere - Tales from the secret valley
Countrystride #29: Dorothy Wordsworth & women walking pioneers
Countrystride #28: Future farming – Six generations working the land
Countrystride #27: Bill Birkett - Lakeland legend in Langdale
Countrystride #26: Piers Gill - A winter's ascent with Mountain Rescue
Countrystride #25: Smugglers, bombs and Plague Dogs - A walk on Wetherlam
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