Some weather forecasts just sit there demanding to be used. The thin veneer of vapour on the horizon is the nearest I got to clouds all day. The summit is Dale Head, between Newlands and Honister in the Lake District — a genuinely impressive cairn, and a damn fine view. This is why I worked yesterday instead.
Graystones is the modest peak to centre right, Wythop Moss the substantial swamp below. The fringe of trees is the top end of Darling How plantation, which extends down into the unseen valley over the far side of the ridge. And yes, I took the day off, well, most of it anyway, to go on a walk. But I’m working Sunday, so these things balance out, before you call the employment police (probably the Tories are considering such a step).
I remain grateful for the fact that I have a job flexible enough to allow me to bring my weekend forward a day and get out on a walk on a Friday. However, I wasn’t out basking in the sunshine or anything. This was a severe-weather walk, as rough as anything I’ve ever done, as evidenced by the spindrift seen here. Heron Pike sits between the lakes of Grasmere, Rydal Water and (pictured) Windermere. More photos from this walk on my other blog when I get round to it, but that’ll be tomorrow now.
I’m sure there are lots of things that could be better about this picture, but hey, it ain’t easy to capture wild red deer in England — there really aren’t very many of them, and they really don’t like people. This was my best attempt. I like the way the two bucks are clearly keeping an eye out for anyone who might be messin’ with their does, so to speak.
Having stayed over on the Cumbrian coast last night there was plenty of opportunity to get the Irish Sea into the shot for the second day in a row. Seascale station is an idyllic place on a glorious morning like this, though I bet when the westerly gales are blowing, it is quite different. My spell-checker keeps wanting to change ‘Seascale’ to ‘seascape’, which I guess is appropriate in this case.
Taken from Cold Fell, on the very western edge of the Lake District, looking out to the Irish Sea. I’m very aware that this is a subject that can cause mixed reactions; maybe it would help to know that if the camera had panned a couple of degrees to the right, Sellafield nuclear power station would have loomed large in the lens. It’s a choice, a very conscious one in a lot of ways.
Rydal cave, on the slopes of Loughrigg Fell, is the biggest cave in the Lake District. As A. Wainwright says in his Pictorial Guide, “there is room in here for the entire population of Ambleside (though admittedly many of them would be standing in water)”. It’s not a natural cave however; instead, it is the product of quarrying. I guess you need a certain confidence in the local geology to dig out such a big hole…
If out in the hills and in doubt about the photo, try the sheep group. I always feel these guys know something. But that’s probably just paranoia. Probably.
Far too glorious a day to not go on a walk. The walking blog will get updated tomorrow, but for now, here’s one of today’s spectacular views: Great End on the left, then the three lumps from centre to right are Loft Crag, Pike o’Stickle and Harrison Stickle — the Langdale Pikes. England doesn’t get a great deal better than this.
“OK, I might have a bit of a silly tail. But I live in a cooler place than you.”
And yes, that’s snow in May.
Being 42 