Five miles along the pack-horse road to the north stood their market town of Gaskarth, where they took their wool or the cloth they had woven from it.

From the top of Lauvellen they could see the white sails of the ships that floated down the broad Solway.

These were all but their only glimpses of the world beyond their mountains.

It was a mysterious and fearsome world.
There was, however, one link that connected the people of Wythburn with the world outside.

To the north of the city and the mere there lived a family of sheep farmers who were known as the Rays of Shoulthwaite Moss.