While studying the map book a couple of days previously I'd noticed Keld Chapel appearing to be just by the A6 near Shap village so to take a break and explore something new I turned off the M6 at Junction 39 and went in search of it. I drove quite a distance along the A6 through Shap village and back but saw no evidence of any chapel, not even a sign for it, however I did see a sign for Shap Abbey so decided to check that out instead. The route took me down a couple of narrow country lanes barely wider than the van and eventually I came to a concrete track leading down through a very steep field of sheep, with the top of the ruined abbey tower showing through the trees down below.
There was nothing to say if vehicles were allowed down the track so not wanting to get myself into somewhere I couldn't get out of I left the van in the shade of a nearby stone wall and set off walking down the hill. As it turned out, there was a small grassy car park down in the valley with a sign pointing to it, where a footpath took me across a bridge over a small river and past the edge of another field to the abbey itself.
The remote valley had once been home to a community of Premonstratensian canons, an order which was founded in the 1120s, and the abbey was founded round about 1200 by a local baron who granted the land to the canons. After Henry Vlll's suppression of the abbey in the 16th century its canons were evicted and the land was granted to the Governor of Carlisle in 1540; some of the main monastic buildings were then used as a farm but most were dismantled and the materials re-used elsewhere.
Walking down the steep field to the abbey I'd noticed a sheep lying on its back; it was still there when I went back up the hill and knowing that a sheep on its back is a sheep in trouble I went across and managed to roll it over, whereby it scrambled to its feet, gave itself a shake and trotted off with its two youngsters. Another ewe had two adorable little babies with her, obviously relative new-borns, and one was so wrinkled it looked like it hadn't quite grown into its skin, in fact it looked rather like it was wearing a fur coat a couple of sizes too big. I had to smile at another little one though - its ears seemed to be bigger than normal, giving it a rather odd appearance, but that definitely added to the cute factor.
Back at the van I released the dogs, gave them a drink and took them for a short walk along the lane before continuing my journey to the camp site, which was done with no further stops. It was 3pm when I finally arrived - I had the same pitch as last time, No.11, but before I could even think about setting up the tent the sky clouded over and it started raining. No way was I putting up the tent in that so I quickly connected the hook-up cable, ran it though the van window and made myself a brew, prepared to stay put until the rain stopped. It didn't, at least not until it was going dark, but I had my bed made up in the van just in case such a thing occurred, so that's where the dogs and I spent our first night, with fingers and paws crossed that the tent would go up the following day.
