38 min listen
Countrystride #78: The Carlisle-Settle line & springtime in Eden
FromCountrystride
ratings:
Length:
59 minutes
Released:
Apr 1, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
...in which we take a springtime stroll from Langwathby to Lazonby in the company of author Stan Abbot to track the route of the Carlisle-Settle line, one of Britain's most treasured railways. As we stroll, through sandstone villages immersed in birdsong, into age-old alder carr and over busy becks, we learn about the navvy construction of this most iconic of lines, and of the Blea Moor shantytowns in which drunkenness and disease ran rife; we relish the pastural loveliness of backwater Eden; we consider a perfect Lakeland day in Newlands; we discuss the six-year campaign that saved the railway – alongside Michael Portillo's ambiguous role in it; and, arriving at Long Meg and her Daughters, one of the UK's oldest stone circles, a poetic Mark ponders 'the enormity of time and our quiet little place in it'.
You can buy Stan's book Walking the Line from Saraband. His new book (out in April) is Ring of Stone Circles, also published by Saraband.
You can buy Stan's book Walking the Line from Saraband. His new book (out in April) is Ring of Stone Circles, also published by Saraband.
Released:
Apr 1, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Countrystride #20: Upper Eden - The fight to roam, with Kate Ashbrook: …in which we follow the River Eden downstream to Kirkby Stephen with leading campaigner in the walking world, Kate Ashbrook, General Secretary of the Open Spaces Society and Chair of the Ramblers. As we head north from Pendragon Castle we discuss the joy... by Countrystride