Old ways to Baucott and Thonglands

We start near Tigger’s Ickle Shop (see Holdgate and Rowe Lane) – and we’re there in the nick of time, for as we select one or two tasty-looking items, a horde of noisily-chattering locusts (thirty or more, all dressed as walkers) descends eagerly upon the roadside stall. Minutes later, we’re heading in the opposite direction (by choice) and it’s quiet along Rowe Lane, with good views to left and right from this minor ridge. Rowe Lane was once the main way along Corvedale, and a mile or so later, we’re following another old way – a narrow stream that pretends to be a footpath. Having survived the particularly muddy last few yards of this path (where our spirits are lifted by the call of a curlew), we’re back onto good surfaces, for the track past the remarkable moated farmhouse at Thonglands. A very pleasant wander in a quiet corner of the county.