Nordic Walking, Ramalina fraxinea, Shield Ferns, Eoin Keith, Plantlife, Blue Moorgrass, Spring Flowers near Settle

This post is lamenatably unspecialised. Enjoy leaping from topic to topic, in the same way as I leap from clint to clint on limestone pavement.

And just as I find different worlds down different grykes, so you will find different worlds in this walk at different stages of this blog, of this walk to Catrigg Foss. We have so much to be thankful for around Settle.

To day I attend a Nordic Walking session led by Jo Wulf. She has 8 walkers in the group plus a baby strapped to one very fit walker's chest. So she has a flock of nine altogether. She lends us poles, apart from M who has his own. 

We meet at the car park of Plantlife's Reserve Winskill Stones. I am pleased to see the new(ish) notice board (after 20plus years) in the car park showing only plants that can be found here. I remember surveying the reserve in 1998.  The year that Plantlife bought it... 24 years ago.. just seems like yesterday.

I show the group - or at least those who will look - the Blue Moorgrass - Sesleria caerulea on the rocks in the Car Park. This plant is listed as Nationally Scarce. - So if you visit Winskill Stones do look out for it. People come up all the way from London to here to see it. It is only just coming into flower today 11 March -- but it is easy to recognise because it is the only grass in flower at this time of year (apart from Annual Meadow-Grass). It is very special because the flowers actually start to from inside the shoots in late autumn and sit there over winter, ready to shoot in early spring.

And it is blue.

(These pictures were taken on a different occasion later in March in a different year)

From NBN 2019

We set off

Jo reminds the newer people of techniques. The poles should be pointing backwards, so "Trail the pole tips along the road and then use the poles at that angle."

The cattle grid at Winskill Stones

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After a kilometre, at the top of Goat Scar Lane there is a tree and under it I find a lump of lichen that has blown off - Ramalina fraxinea. This used to be a rare lichen in the area but I have now found in several times - including in the copse of trees planted on Winskill Stones half a km away. It seems to like growing on trees in in exposed places.

Fortunately this tree is in a brand new monad (1km square) SD8367 in my recording system at SD 83176700 - by about 7 meters - so the lichen is a worthwhile record in my recording scheme. 

Angela and I also look at the big white patches on top of the limestone walls - Aspicilia calcarea.

Ramalina fraxinea

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We walk down the steps to Catrigg Foss - A favourite haunt of composer Edward Elgar .

We look at the stream at the top.

We walk up to the path ready to descend.

Several trees blown down in the recent gales have been sawn through to give us access

Half time sustainance

Jo gives us some Gluten free chocolate nut flapjack.

I photograph the flowers: Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage and Dog's Mercury.

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage

Dog's Mercury

Then I take photos of Ferns: Hart's-Tongue Fern and Hard Shield Fern. I wan to write about local ferns on Facebook, ready for the Talk on 17 March by Alison Evans.

Hart's-tongue Fern

Hard Shield Fern

Hard Shield Fern

Hard Shield Fern

Time to return.  I look at the geology to work out why the deep valley valley has formed here. On the far side of the valley to the north is Silurian Acid rock - 423 to 428 million years. On our side, the south it is limestone- 326 to 359 million years ago in the Carboniferous Period.

The Nordic Walking group climbs back up the limestone 

As we walk past the copse in in Plantlife's reserve where I had seen Ramalina fraxinea nearly three years ago I remember taking a "Slow Video of Curlews" that evening on 2 July 2019. Last week I had attended a talk by the Curlew Recovery Program who told me "If you hear curlews calling late in the year it is a good sign that they have stayed around to raise their young, and that the young have thus probably survived. (otherwise the parents would have left)


We hear no curlews today but I do hear a skylark.

We hear no curlews today but I do hear a skylark.

I looked up towards the skyline - to a valley made with  Penyghent on the left and on the right is the steep slope of Fountains Fell. I remember the Spine Race earlier this year: the early morning of 10th January of this year 2022. 

I had gotten up before dawn to go and watch the fore runners of the Spine Race. (The Pennine Way in January) The leaders who had set off at 8 am the previous day from Edale were now 90 to 100 miles north, 25 hours later. By 9am one determined walker was running with poles, 

Yea - Nordic walking like us!???

and he had little time for my videoing and probably inane comments - His name?  - Eoin Keith. 

At this stage he was lying about 4th - I had videoed Eugeni an hour earlier at 8am. The two leaders had passed at least an hour - maybe two hours before I had arrived - Indeed had passed Horton before I had left my house.. otherwise I would have gone to Horton to see them.. Eoin was lying fourth - and with James and Sabrina on his heels a few minutes. But bit by bit over the next 3 and a half days the people ahead of him had over extended themselves and were forced to retire. And Eoin and his walking poles won the 268 mile race in just over 92 hours  40min and 30 seconds.

So Jo - I'll keep persevering with the poles.

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Back at the Car park: Jackie reminds us of the cake stall and teas at Giggleswick Church in Aid of Ukrainian Refugees that afternoon. I remember that I have to go to IPrint to collect the prints to put on our display at the ACE Climate event at Victoria Hall.

We say "Thank you to Jo"

If you would like to go Nordic walking at or near Settle contact
Jo Wulf at 07966 981985 or email jowulf@wolftracks.co.uk

Nordic walking Nordic walking fitness walks.
.Mon 9am and Friday 10.30am from Settle.
Wednesdays 2.30pm from Long Preston. £5. Poles provided.