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| Rainy view of Ulverston from Hoad. |
We have rolled pasche eggs down our local hill for as long as I can remember. For at least half a century and probably much longer than that, the inhabitants of Ulverston have lovingly hard boiled and decorated eggs in order to watch them splat into pieces at the bottom of the hill in only a few seconds.It's an ancient tradition in Cumbria and many a family have spent a wonderful afternoon in the sunshine, picnicking then climbing 'The Hoad' after the pasche egg rolling is over. Hoad, for those who don't know, is a monument similar to a lighthouse sitting on top of a hill on the outskirts of Ulverston. From the top you can look down on the town and watch the train leaving the station as it travels along the railway line and over the viaduct which spans the estuary to the other side of Morcambe Bay.
Yesterday I learned that the local council hadn't organised pasche egg rolling this year as they had no volunteers. Now, don't get me wrong,I don't agree with maintaining tradition for tradition's sake but the children of Ulverston have been rolling pasche eggs for years and we don't need an organiser to hard boil some eggs and roll them down the hill. So in true militant style off we set on a rainy cold day to roll our eggs!
We met a lovely lady at the bottom of the hill, she was waiting for her grandchildren and was surprised that there were no people around. We decided to climb the hill first and after a short sharp pull up ,a very unfit mother and much healthier daughter, arrived at the summit where various families in all sorts of waterproof attire were admiring the wet and hazy view.After the obligatory photo of Morecambe bay my daughter set off the quick but straight down route whilst I sauntered down the more leisurely way, lost the path through a haze of mist on my glasses and slipped sideways through the bracken to the bottom of the hill out of view of my daughter . I puffed my way along the bottom path and finally reached an anxious daughter who had climbed the path I was supposed to be descending 3 times!
We climbed the gentle incline to the starting line. Another family were there before us complete with a home made scientific contraption that only dreams are made of. You rolled your egg down a wooden plank with rails on either side to stop it falling off, from there it rolled down the hill and if you were lucky through an upright large wooden triangle sited at the bottom of the slope. Our plans were far more basic. You took your egg and rolled it as hard as you could towards the path below, trying if you could to avoid the gathering crowd of passers-by and families gripping tightly to supermarket bags of hard boiled eggs. All too soon our four eggs lay smashed to smitherines at the bottom of the hill but honour had been served. We had continued an age old tradition regardless and what had been written off by the local council had once again been observed by the residents of Ulverston!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1-jjhomJp8&feature=related for an ariel view of Hoad.
