Dacre Walls Walk

Today the Thursday Ramblers revisited Dacre Parish for the Dacre Walls Walk. I had been very impressed with this walk last year. We encountered so much Dales history as we traversed farmers' fields and climbed over stone walls. Today's walk presented some new challenges. I think we encountered our most muddy conditions ever. Several of us went ankle deep into the muck while others sunk up to mid-shin level. Oftentimes there was a puddle of mud directly at the base of a stone stile making the climb over the stone wall a feat of dexterity. For not only were we dodging mud holes, we had to negotiate past electric and barbed wire fences newly erected by the farmers. And then there was the bull. Some hikers think it was just a cow, but I say it was a bull alone in a field. One of the hikers took a photo of the bull. The flash went off. The bull charged. The photographer neatly stepped out of his way, nimble as a matador. But the bull was not finished, he stamped and stewed and looked us all over with a wary eye. It took some time before we were all able to make our way, unscathed, across the field. Aside from the challenges, we also experienced a little treat. I had read about the Quaker Burial Ground that is a short detour from the Dacre Walls Walk and had requested of our hike leader that we take the detour. The burial ground was rather unassuming, just a plot of land marked off with a stone wall. The date on the stone doorway read 1682. A wooden door erected this past summer prevented us from entering the burial ground but we were able to peek over the walls to see some headstones.