A sad story about two German au pair girls on a walking holiday in the Lake District, and the search for an elusive oak cross below the crags of Dale Head in Gatesgarth Dale.

For the last six months or so, my ‘Lakeland Routes’ journey has taken a new path. Researching local history stories has become a passionate, although at times obsessive, sidestep from the walking routes. Although I have kept my interest limited to the Borrowdale area, I did have four stories near completion before researching this one. Chatting with local people has certainly been the highlight of this new adventure, and some have even become friends. My wife, Jaclyn, has followed me all the way; well, she did allow me to blabber away each time I returned home. If four stories wasn’t enough to be going on with, Jaclyn mentioned that she once found a cross when she was much younger. “On the Buttermere side of Honister Pass” she said. Well, maybe a break from researching in Borrowdale would do me good?