FRIDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 2026

(Newton-in-Bowland, UK)

A few days ago I wrote that we had taken the short drive to the middle of nowhere.  It seems however that my assessment of the situation may have been a little premature. It turns out that we’re nearly in the middle of everywhere.

We did have our lie in. And coffee in bed. We did it so well, that breakfast would have to be firmly classed as brunch. As we were only driving a very short distant to do a reasonably short walk, though, this was all part of our R&R plan. There was a minor glitch when I couldn’t get the coffee machine to power on, but fortunately I found the switch which I must have accidentally turned off when refilling the water.

The weather during the morning hasn’t looked too bad, Ashton still slightly windy. As we walked to the  car, though, the wind seemed to have dropped, so we hoped for a pleasant walk. We drove the ten minutes to Dunsop Bridge and parked in a very empty car park. I had originally hoped to drive part way along the Trough of Bowland, and walk one of the valleys there, but the road is currently closed for six weeks of, I presume, major road reconstruction. We’ll just have to come back.

Instead, we walked from the car park into the village where I pointed out the tourist highlight to Andrew. A phone box. Not just any phone box, but the 100,000th phone box in the UK, which was apparently opened by Sir Ranulph Fiennes in 1992. And why did it need an explorer, you ask? Well, Dunsop Bridge is the village closest to the geographic centre of Great Britain, as calculated by the Ordnance Survey. The exact centre is a few miles away at Whitendale Hanging Stones, up on the top of the fell, but this was close enough to count for me. So technically, we’re right in the middle of everywhere.

After walking past all the ducks on the village green we walked a short way up the road before turning to follow a private road that winds roughly along the line of the River Dunsop, towards its start point below Middle Knoll. There was occasional rain, or to be accurate precipitation started and varied between a light mizzle and rain. The wind didn’t feel too bad though.

The road crossed fields of sheep, cows, passed a lot of pheasants, and got closer to the river the further we went. Unfortunately the wind started to pick up, the temperature dropped a little further, and the rain became continuous. By the time we had walked 2 miles up the valley, the backs of our legs were soaking wet, as the rain was driven into us by the wind. Even more unfortunately, at some point we would have to turn around and walk back into it. We were going to walk up to the start of the river, where there is a bridge over the beginning of the Dunsop, and where the Brennand and Whitendale rivers join. We could see the bridge but with about a third of a mile to go, it was getting a little grim, and the clouds were descending down the hills to spoil any kind of view.

We turned around. It was definitely type two fun on the way back, although we also saw the humour in the situation, as we talked to the sheep we passed, who were looking at us with bemusement, as if to ask why humans were out in this weather. Good question. Even the cows came over to the fence, curious to check out these people, squelching their way along the road. The workmen repairing a footbridge had packed up and left, and even some fishermen equipped with waders and waterproofs had given up and gone home by the time we came back down the road.

Back in the village, the Puddleduck tea room looked cozy and nice, but we were so wet that our only option was to go back to the Cottage. We were thoroughly soaked through to the skin. Our boots were wet inside and out, coats likewise…nothing remained dry.

Once we had put on dry clothes and hung everything else out somewhere in the hopes it might dry, we had lunch. We had taken our sandwiches with us, but it was far too wet to eat them. Food, and a couple of coffees later, we were comfortable and relaxed. I cooked dinner, and we enjoyed the cottage for our last evening. 

The very wet video is here: https://vimeo.com/1228185584.