Herdwick Gimmer

This afternoon we made  a much needed trip to town to unload books and things at the charity shop.  On the way back we dropped into the Late Mate's workshop for a chat with his colleague who was left the business.  Then on to the tip recycling centre to drop off fabrics and dead light bulbs.

On the way home we passed a field of Herdick Gimmers.  Herdwicks are native to Cumbria and are unlike other breeds of sheep.  The wool is coarser being almost hair and the really unusual feature is the lambs are born black and lighten as they age.  These gimmers will be 2024's lambs so about 10 months old.  Now as you can see chocolate brown.

There are two legends as to how they came to be in Cumbria:

They swam ashore from sinking Spanish Galleons when the armada was forced to flee round Britain to escape.

They were brought over by the vikings in the period when they settled Cumbria.  The viking occupation is illustrated by the number  of villages ending thwaite or by in the county.

Personally if either is to be correct I favour the vikings.  Having seen a sheep swimming they very soon have the floating ability of the average household brick as the fleece gets waterlogged.