Category: Lake District
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From Pyroclastic Flows to Lapilli Tuffs — Navigating the Langdale Pikes
On the first night back home in Cleveland, I awoke to a drizzle, low-hanging clouds, and, after a week in the Lakes, a slight feeling of dysphoria. My morning constitutional brought no relief as the weather remained dismal. So, I believe it’s only fair to share a photo taken a few days prior in Langdale…
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Mickleden, one of the two main tributaries of Great Langdale
Great Langdale, a lovely dale largely under the vigilant eye of the National Trust, holds in its embrace several imposing farms, an establishment of refreshment known as the New Dungeon Ghyll, and a haven for weary travellers in the form of the campsite. These riches, it is worth noting, were bestowed upon the Trust by…
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The view from the summit of Harrison Stickle.
But who was this Harrison fellow? Not too many Lake District hills bear a man’s name. I can only recall Robinson and Aitken’s Knott. Stickle, they say, hails from ‘sticel,’ meaning a steep slope. But let’s get back to the view. Far below, there lies Stickle Tarn. It was dammed and made bigger for Langdale’s…
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Blea Tarn: Wordsworth was ’ere
Decamped to Great Langdale and a brief recuperative stroll upon Lingmoor Fell, which offers this delightful panorama of Blea Tarn. This charming, shallow tarn rests snugly in the col between the two Langdales. In the distance, the commanding 762-metre high peak of Wetherlam stands tall. Notably, this tarn has stirred the creativity of some literary…
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A night under the stars
I find myself temporarily off grid, so my posts shall be rather scarce for a time. But lo and behold, gaze upon this splendid sight of the Scafell massif, captured after a night spent beneath the stars upon Esk Pike. My duty was to man a checkpoint for the Lake District Mountain Trial. Alas, a…
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Sandwick
Another view from the weekend. Sandwick, a small hamlet on the shore of Ullswater. To the right the 1,271′ Hallin Fell, which Wainwright regards as “the motorists’ fell, for the sandals and slippers and polished shoes of the numerous car-owners who park their on the crest of the zig-zags on Sunday afternoons have smoothed to…
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Martindale
I’ve been off-grid in the Lakes for a few days, specifically in Martindale, perhaps the most secluded and certainly the least touristy of the dales. Martindale drains into Ullswater. To get there you have to follow the east of the Lake from Pooley Bridge to Howtown then negotiate The Hause, a steep little pass with…
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Suart’s Reservoir
A busy weekend near Staveley in the Kent valley, “gateway to the Lakes”. Yesterday saw a return to Gurnal Dubs which visited in 2016 during the supervision of a DoE expedition. Today Suart’s Reservoir which is on the south side of the valley in the parish of Nether Staveley. It is entirely on farmland with…
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The Green, St. John’s in the Vale
Mondays have always brought on a state of dysphoria after the euphoria of a weekend away. I think another post of St. John’s in the Vale is justified — a day late but heigh ho. The photo is taken looking south from Lad Knott overlooking the hamlet of ‘The Green‘, which, legend has it, was…
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Who was Jim?
Jim’s Fold, on the Eastern Fells below Calfhow Pike and overlooking St. John’s in the Vale. This was used as checkpoint on this year’s Lake District Mountain Trial. Taken on Saturday, the day before the event, when the fold was occupied by two wild fell ponies and their foals. But the question remains — just…