Autumn Watch at Beautiful Ponsonby Tarn “Area of Focus” for a Mine Site Through Which to Trundle Nuclear Waste Under the Irish Sea for over 150 years.

Video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mHAE3Xk15k

Recently we had a walk to Ponsonby Tarn, Gosforth, it is stunningly beautiful ancient land rivalling the best of the Lake District but is seen as a sacrifice zone by the Nuclear Waste Industry.

I had heard of Ponsonby Tarn and seen the occasional rare photo but had never been so it was with not such great expectations we set out to find it. Looking on the ordnance survey map we could see what looked like a public right of way route and on the street view there was a public footpath sign off the A595 opposite Gosforth.

When we got there the public footpath sign had disappeared (bit suss?) so no indication of the route but we took the lane where there are farm buildings on the left and continued on the road past a bungalow on the right.

There are lovely views of the Lake District mountains along this lane marred by signs saying “Armed Police Patrol This Area at Unpredictable Times.” These are the Civil Nuclear Constabulary who operate outside of the jurisdiction of ordinary police – this is a few km from Sellafield itself.

We came to a proper clump of trees through which you can see Sellafield and hear it too – a kind of hum which may be the onsite Fellside gas plant.

Turn right onto what looks like a forestry track and continue on along.

View of Sellafield through the trees – turn right onto the track here

There are some lovely beech trees along the track.

Beech Trees

There is a beautiful sandstone house on the left called Saddlebank according to the map (but no house sign). This one of the properties purchased by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Shortly after Saddlebank are the remnant ruins of Newton Manor – also purchased by the NDA, left to ruin and demolished (like so many others including farms) If you take a small detour into the old Manor site there is an information panel courtesy of the nuclear industry saying how important this property was.

What is left of Newton Manor.

Continue on past Newton Manor ignoring a little path off to the left until you come to a proper forestry type lane leading down to the left, take that lane.

In the trees along this lane we saw quite a crop of fungi.

Continue on that track until you come to another forestry type lane off to the right take that and Ponsonby Tarn is there. So Beautiful but also so blighted by the nuclear industry with a recorded elevated burden of radioactivity in the silt.

What this beautiful and ancient area should be is a protected and celebrated buffer zone around the world’s most dangerous nuclear waste site not a sacrifice zone for ever more nuclear sprawl.

Dabchick on Ponsonby Tarn

Its around 2 miles there and back – unless you get lost which is quite easy given the lack of signs – worth it? Yes! Should this “Area of Focus” be protected from being a nuclear mine site – YES!!