Category: Lake District
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Bowscale Tarn
Cirques are giant hollows scooped out of the fellside by glacial ice. They are typically referred to as corries in Scotland, as cwms in Wales and more often as coves or combs in the Lake District. But the cirque in which Bowscale Tarn sits is un-named despite it being arguably the best example of a…
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Trusmadoor
Looking down on that distinct cleft of Trusmadoor in the Great Cockup/Meal fell ridge. Wainwright wrote of it: Nobody ever sung the praises of Trusmadoor, and it’s time someone did. This lonely passage between the hills, an obvious and easy way for man and beast and beloved by wheeling buzzards and hawks, has a strange…
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Miller Moss
When the summer of 2018 began it was just an un-named nondescript knoll in the Northern Fells of the Lake District with a spot height on the Ordnance Survey map of 609m. At the end of the summer, it was a nondescript mountain of 610m. Entitling it to be classified as Nuttall, a listing of…
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Fell Ponies, Ullswater
A Cumbrian Fell Pony grazes on the slopes of Moor Divock overlooking Ullswater in the Lake District. They are semi-wild, on the hills all year round. Someone “owns” them, they have a tag on their ears. Standing no more than 14 hands high, shaggy with long knotty manes, Fell Ponies are said to have originated…
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Lakeland Hound Trailing
So there we were tootling up St. John’s in the Vale when the roads were suddenly chaotic with vehicles parked here, there and everywhere. The drivers had their binoculars out and were intensively watching the fells. Curiosity piqued, we stopped. Before long we picked out a dog high on the fells of High Rigg dashing…
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Bassenthwaite Lake
Is this the biggest lake in the Lake District? A trick question of course. For every schoolboy knows there’s only one lake in the Lake District. All the others are either waters or meres. Of which there are 16 or 17 depending on how you count Brothers Water. For some reckon that’s a tarn. But…
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Tour of Britain uphill team time trial
Watching the Tour of Britain uphill team time trial, 14 km from Cockermouth to the summit of Whinlatter Pass. This is on Scawgill Bridge, and the British Cycling Team has about 3½ km left to the finish. The team has six riders, their time will be taken when the fourth rider crosses the line although…
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The Girt Dog of Ennerdale
Today there are many graphic images of farm animals having been mauled by out of controlled dogs. This is not just a modern phenomenon. On 12th September 1810, a dog was shot near Rowrah at the bottom end of Ennerdale. It had been on the rampage all that summer eluding many hunts and attempts to…
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Wasdale Head
A view that never fails to fascinate me, especially on such a glorious day. Wasdale Head, an oasis of lush, higgledy-piggledy fields. No design went into them. I am above Stirrup Crag on Yewbarrow. Everything is much greener and wetter than when I was last on these fells in June. Wastwater must be at least…
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Muncaster Fell
I’ve never been up Muncaster Fell before, so this is a new one for me. A Wainwright bagged, a Marilyn bagged. Muncaster Fell is an elongated lump of granite, separating the valleys of the Eskdale and Miterdale. The highest point is Hooker Crag, a mere 231m high but offering fine views over the west Cumbria…