Beautiful Lunesdale

The River Lune rises at St. Helen's Well, in a field close to the village of Newbiggin-on-Lune, and sets off on its long trip to Glasson Dock in Morecambe Bay.

From its underground birth in the limestone rocks north of Newbiggin it wends its way westwards beneath the limestone escarpment of Sunbiggin to the north, and the huge bulk of the Howgill Fells - geologically a part of the Lake District - to the south.

At Tebay it makes an abrupt left turn, heading south through the impressive Lune Gorge. This huge cutting through the mountains is the only relatively easy route from north to south (or vice versa depending where you live), and consequently is blessed with roads, the M6 motorway, and the main West Coast railway line. These modern communication lines merely replace much earlier routes, such as the Roman road from Lancaster (there is a fort near Tebay), and even earlier prehistoric tracks.

It passes the tiny hamlet of Firbank and the attractive market town of Sedbergh into a more gentle and fertile version of the Lune Valley, with the Barbon Fells to the east and low lying hills to the west.

Here are the hamlets of Killington and Rigmaden, and the villages of Barbon and Casterton (another name with a Roman connection) followed by the attractive small market town of Kirkby Lonsdale ("Church town (in the) Lune's Dale"). This is where it also meets the Lunesdale Studio Trail!

The Lune now enters the heart of the Studio Trail, passing the villages of Burrow (site of another Roman fort), Tunstall, Melling, Hornby and Gressingham. At Hornby it joins forces with the river Wenning (more studios!), and proceeds down the valley past an increasing number of villages - Whittington, Arkholme, Wray, Aughton, Claughton, Brookhouse, Caton, and Halton. The valley floor is now a flood plain, wide and flat.

The Lune becomes tidal just before the historic city of Lancaster (derived from "Lune Castle" - another Roman root!) which is also its lowest bridging point. The now rather wide Lune flows slowly (except when in flood!) through Lancaster and then meanders gently into an ever wider estuary. The Lune estuary becomes indistinguishable from the sea at Glasson Dock, a tiny, attractive, and still functioning port.