Knowing the roads south of me are a bit more narrow and a bit more winding, I headed out with my trust GPS looking for what I may find. Okay, I am still looking for a good hobby/toy/craft shop where I can buy paints, glue and what not.
Barrow is known for two things: 1) it's a shipping port so lots of big ships, cranes and loading docks; and 2) Furness Abbey.
Furness Abbey is famous for being the last Catholic Abbey to be sacked and destroyed by King Henry VIII when he decided he no longer wanted to be second to the Pope and answering to him. His soldiers could not find the Abbey and as they left in despair thinking they would surely be called to account for their failure, the monks (thinking they'd been spared by God) let the church bells ring in celebration...cue a soldier cocking his ear...they followed the sounds of the bells until they found the Abbey. The rest they say is history.
I was almost in as much despair when as I approached Barrow I was greeted by a sign saying "road closed". Hmm, no detour signs, no obvious way around, and the lane is not blocked...I'll keep going. A few miles later, another sign, same message and same concerns. I keep going. Within about 2 miles of the town, as I crest a hill overlooking the town...yes, the road is blocked.
I fiddled with my GPS for about 20 minutes until I found a route that would take me around the roadblock and it's only about 4-5 miles out of my way...
Only half a mile back whence I'd come, I turned up a road that quickly got very, very narrow. There was about 6 inches on each side from my mirrors and the stone walls went right up to the top of the car. Only 2 miles...I can do it, at least it's paved. I pass one farm and the stone fences changed to hedge rows. But now they are 10 feet tall and narrowed so that my mirrors and occasionally the doors get whacked by hedge branches. And it's now very steep. I'm in first gear and the car is working very hard to make it up the hill (road is still paved by the by) and there is zero room to do anything but go forward.
If I'd come across somebody going in the opposite direction, we'd have been in a real pickle. I was NOT going to back up!
While the car strained to climb my knuckles were white trying to keep the car on the road. Oh, it's got that "humped" shape to it, the center was so high I was worried the oil pan would scrape if there was a pothole or something. Up and up I went along that road, all the way up the hill. It had started snowing...really!? Snow!? My ears popped I'd gone so far up that damn hill.
Suddenly I rounded a corner and the hedge row stopped. I was about 50 feet from the end of the road, nearing a T where the GPS told me to turn right. No more trees, no more hedge rows. But two sheep who were looking at me wondering what some human was doing all the way up here.
I turned right an the road was wider. Still paved and obviously like a farm road, but with the snow I was a bit concerned. I kept going. I was now going back down the hill, but on the other side.
After a couple of miles the hedge rows returned as did the stone fences. I saw another car and the some houses. The city was visible again, albeit from a different angle. Instead of approaching the city from the north, I was now coming in from the east (south or west would have been from the ocean). Another mile and I was in the city.
3 hours later...........40 miles.
So I found the hobby shop and it was a mess. Old school hobby shop with stuff everywhere. The owner asked if I needed help, when I spoke he noted I wasn't from around here. I says, "No, I'm from up north." The other gent in the shop then said something only a local could understand, but I did make out the word "sheep". When the owner chided him for saying "those kinds of words" I realized I'd just been insulted. Well, he ain't gettin' a nickel out of me! So I left after just 5 minutes.
Back up north I went but this time I took the eastern route that looped around the north of the county, and then drove back south to home. Amazingly it only took me an hour and 15 to get home...I won't make that trip again.
Here's a couple of photos along the way. I wonder how old a stone fence has to be to get that much moss?
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