Category: Lake District
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Lonscale Fell with Skiddaw in the distance
The problem with the internet it is so easy to get sidetracked. I searched for “Skiddaw” and came across a couple of proverbs listed in scans of 18th-century books courtesy of Google. “The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature, Volume 46” by “A Society of GENTLEMEN” published in 1778 has this in a chapter on…
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Cumbrian Sunset
A cracking end to the day after a windy climb this morning up Halls Ridge into the cloud. Not much of a view from the top of Blencathra and no hanging around. Came out of the mist on the zig-zags down Blease Fell to blue skies. Sunset was at 15.53 today so this is about…
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The Cloven Stone
On Mungrisedale Common, the north side of Blencathra. In the distance Back o’ Skiddaw with Skiddaw House just below the cloud. This distinctive rock marked the boundary of the Lordship of Threlkeld, land that was claimed in the medieval times by the de Threlkeld family. Tenants had rights to graze their animals, cut wood and…
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Stool End Farm, Great Langdale
Still the worse for wear after Sunday’s exertions in the Lakes so stayed local. Perhaps it’s cheating a bit but I took this photo yesterday morning when we woke up to a cracking sunrise. Stool End Farm at the foot of The Band, a relentless 800m ridge climb to Bowfell. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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White-throated dipper, Great Langdale Beck
Watched this little fellow for a while. Cinclus cinclus is its scientific name. Fairly common but elusive and delightful to see. A very busy bird, diving into the beck in search of invertebrate larvae and returning to the stone to eat. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Langdale Pikes
A view across Great Langdale to the Langdale Pikes. The tallest point on the Left is Pike of Stickle. Just to the right of this pike is a scree run at the top of which the archaeologists tell us was the site of the stone age Langdale axe industry. Axes of the Greenstone rock have…
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The Helm, Oxenholme
I have always thought of Oxenholme as just the railway station on the West Coast mainline with its junction to Windermere. In fact, it’s a small neat village of the outskirts of Kendal overlooked by a ridge of Open Access Land known as The Helm. I had a few hours to kill so I took…
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Banishead Quarry
A consequence of man’s thirst for slate flagstones. The site comprises two large quarries, Eddy Scale and Banishead, dug on either side of Torver Beck which was left flowing down a ridge between the two. Eventually, a section collapsed creating a waterfall into Banishead. With no apparent drain, the water level quickly rose creating a…
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Coniston Water
A view of the north end of Coniston Water from an unfamiliar angle. The righthand most house on the far side of the lake is Brantwood, where the poet John Ruskin lived. Travelling north (right to left) we come to big houses now used as outdoor education centres, Thurlston and Low Bank Ground, good memories…
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Torver Beck
Wet and wild in the Lakes so kept low. Torver Commons on the western side of Coniston water was one of my first Lakeland orienteering events. I remember getting hopelessly lost. The bracken meant I kept to the paths today. This is Torver Beck which drains a vast swathe of the Furness Fells, including the…