Crummock Water with a little wall leading down into the water with Scale Knott and Mellbreak rising up on the other side of the lake
During half-term late October 2021 Eric, Jennifer and I went to the Lake District for a week of walks, sightseeing and photography. Mikee was on her first month at Bath University. The autumn colours had just started to appear a little. The first days we had great weather, but thereafter it was lots of rain and heavy clouds that made our walks wet and cold and limited the possibilities for my photography. The first evening we arrived at Windermere just as the sun was about to set, but I hurried up to a viewpoint –Queen Adelaide’s Hill – just outside the town of Windermere and overlooking lake Windermere.
After this first evening we stayed in one hotel in Borrowdale near Derwentwateer and another near Ambleside at Lake Windermere. The slide show below illustrates what we saw. The images reflect the weather: A beautiful landscape in a dark and moody atmosphere, but with slivers of sunshine brightening up our views and experiences.
Slide Show: Click on the arrows to advance the slide show
The view from our hotel when we arrived to the Lake District an hour before sunset. The lake is Lake Windermere
I hurried up to a viewpoint nearby – Queen Adelaide's Hill – to catch the sunset. Queen Adelaide was queen of both the United Kingdom and Hanover as the wife of William IV between 1830 and 1837. In 1840 she visited the Lake District and admired the views from what became Queen Adelaide's Hill. I captured the last sunrays over the hills accompanied by the sheep that grazed the hillside.
Lake Windermere at sunset. When it became darker the beautiful cloud formations still motivated me to stay and capture the scenery.
A couple of boats were still out on this cold October evening
The last sunrays light up the clouds above Lake Windermere
The following morning I climbed up a more sizeable mountain just south of Windermere before sunrise. I am at Brant Fell, 150 metres higher than Lake Windermere below. The first image shows the sunrise towards the east, over "mainland England" and the mist can be seen in the valleys.
This image is captured a couple of minutes later and shows the first sunrays hitting the granite rocks at Brant Fell and Lake Windermere below
15 minutes later the sun has risen further and the rays are painting most of the landscape in a warm yellow colour. But looks are deceptive. It is still very cold, where I am standing and I have cap and gloves and a warm jacket and am still shivering a little. We are looking southwest over Lake Windermere from Brant Fell
This final image from Brant Fell is looking towards the northern end of Lake Windermere.
Clappersgate Bridge across River Brathay just west of Ambleside. It is a packhorse bridge, far too narrow to be crossed by a car, but perfect for Jennifer and Eric to walk across on their way to visit the 19th century Holy Trinity Church on the south side of the river. They stopped and posed to give some life to the slate bridge, as I captured it from the bank below.
And this is the view that Jennifer and Eric saw from the bridge
We visited Loughrigg Tarn and had a walk around the little lake in wonderful sunshine. This image is from the northwest side of the lake.
While I was scouting for photo opportunities Eric and Jen had a little chat in the sunshine.
Looking northwest towards Langdale from Laughrigg Tarn
Another view with the Langdales in the background
Ashness Bridge, probably the most photographed bridge in the Lake District. It is situated not far from Derwentwater, a few miles south of Keswick. It is another classic pack horse stone arch bridge with lovely views over Derwentwater and the mountain of Skiddaw in the background. I visited it one morning from our hotel at Borrowdale.
Ten years earlier I had come to the Lake District for my first t time and captured the same scene, but then I choose to develop it in B&W
The next morning we (Eric, Jennifer and I) set out to reach Buttermere from Borowdale. We took Newlands Pass to reach Buttermere and climbing up we captured this view overlooking the dales and hills.
At the top of Newlands Pass we encountered a waterfall that demanded only a tiny, little hike to reach. The first image of Moss Force Waterfall was taken from far away with a tele lens
And this second photo of Moss Force Waterfall is captured with a wide angle lens. Eric was helping me to climb up on a rock among the rapids to get the right angle for my shot
Lake Buttermere
At Buttermere Village
At Crummock Water I found a little wall leading down into the water and pointing at Scale Knott and Mellbreak rising up on the other side of the lake.
We returned in the afternoon via Honister Pass. This is the view climbing up the pass from Buttermere.
At the other side of Honister Pass we descended towards Borrwodale
At the Borrowdale valley the road was blocked!
Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick is one of the earliest stone circles in Europe. Like the other Stone Circles I have posted from Dartmoor, we don't know exactly the purpose of it, but can assume it has some religious or mythological purpose. I was looking forward to capturing it at sunrise or sunset bathed in warm sun rays, but it was cloudy and rainy and I just had to do the best with the typical Lake District weather. The stone circle is 30 metres wide making it larger than Scorhill Stone Circle on Dartmoor (https://www.osterlund.co.uk/scorhill-stone-circle/ )
This image shows a few of the stones from the Castlerigg Stone Circle looking north with the top of Skiddaw covered in clouds behind the stones
Lodore Falls near Derwentwater
At Watendlath southeast of Derwentwater and not far from Ashness Bridge is another lovely bridge for people and packhorses (but far too narrow for any cars. It leads to some exciting walks up on the hills above Watenlath. Muddy and beautiful!
I went back to Watendlath the next morning but had to stop for this view. I waited – and waited – for the sun to break out of the clouds and shine on the distant hills, but the only thing it was shining upon were the clouds above me.
On a very rainy day we went across the Hardknott and Wrynose passes to Eskdale, but the rain and fog made the photos quite miserable! Here Eric is towering above Jennifer at Devoke Water. I have seen some lovely images from nearby here, but this time you can only see my family braving the weather to scout for future photos!
Driving down from Devoke Water we descended below the clouds and at River Duddon we encountered Ulpha Bridge, where we had our packed lunches. A car (not ours) had obviously smashed part of the bridge wall into pieces.
We continued north to the little hamlet of Seathwaite, which formed the base for another excursion (see forthcoming images). Here Trinity Church at Seathwaite.
We hiked from the Holy Trinity Church (the image before) across – and several times wading in – several smaller becks until we reached River Duddon near Wallabarrow Farm, where the Memorial Bridge is situated in the Wallawbarrow gorge. It is a very romantic stone bridge, too narrow for anything but a hiker with a backpack, but the other side offered lovely views of of the River Duddon (see following images).
The bridge was built in memory of Aida Borchgrevink – an opera singer and sometime resident of the valley in the early years of the last century. She was born Aida Starr in Ohio in 1861 and died in 1931 . But I haven't really been able to find anything else about Aida – except that she was obviously notable enough to have a beautiful bridge built in her honour.
Wallawbarrow Memorial Bridge over River Duddon
River Duddon downstream from the Wallowbarrow Memorial Bridge
River Duddon downstream from the Wallowbarrow Memorial Bridge
