Footfalls

We decided to go and take a look at Haweswater and see how much of the lost village of Mardale was visible after the drought. As it happens, Marpaul had been yesterday and posted an excellent picture of the walls of the village. I took this picture from the road above and you can see the remains of the field walls and some of the buildings. Most fascinating is to see what was the lane between fields, which led into the village. People were down there, walking along the lane, just as many generations of people had done in the past.

We have a book we bought a while back now (and I was able to find it straight away thanks to the new shelves and organisation!), which describes the village of Mardale from memories of people who lived there, or who knew of it before it was flooded. It made for an interesting read. 

What I had not realised was that the current Haweswater Hotel was built by Manchester Waterworks at the same time as the dam, probably to replace the Inn, the Dun Bull, which was lost. Of course it was built then, because they also built the current road above the lake. 

Driving past the Hotel brought back our own memories. It wasn’t long ago that a couple, friends we have known for a long, long time, were staying there and invited us to join them for dinner. What a lovely evening that was. Now he is no longer with us, as he died this week. 

Time passes – Footfalls echo in the memory.


As we were returning we saw Rory our MP coming towards us. It's a good thing that it was not possible to stop or Gordon might have continued his ongoing argument with him over his endorsement of the killing of badgers in Cumbria. Instead we went for breakfast at Rheged, always a treat.