Category: Lake District

  • A View from Alcock Tarn: Grasmere and Helm Crag

    A View from Alcock Tarn: Grasmere and Helm Crag

    Another view from our recent trip to the Lakes. This surprisingly hibernal scene of the Grasmere valley, with Helm Crag taking centre stage, was captured from Alcock Tarn below Heron Pike. The green pasture fields in the valley provide a pleasant contrast to the lifeless, bracken-covered, rock-strewn hillsides. Helm Crag is often called “The Lion…

  • Tarn Hows

    Tarn Hows

    Yesterday, I reflected on my perceived sorry state of Tarn Hows, now resembling the aftermath of a minor apocalypse. The larches, felled due to the ravages of Phytophthora ramorum, are gone, and the recent storms have left a trail of destruction. One might be reminded of those eerie photos of the Tunguska event. While the…

  • Rose Castle Revisited

    Rose Castle Revisited

    A few days of nostalgia at Rose Castle, once part of the Monk Coniston Estate and now within the National Trust’s Tarn Hows property. There is a certain sadness in the loss of its quirks, though not for the old toilet—the one-holer, the thunderbox. Electricity and piped spring water are welcome signs of progress. The…

  • The Skiddaw Hermit : Eccentricity on a Mountaintop

    The Skiddaw Hermit : Eccentricity on a Mountaintop

    Many of you have likely heard of Millican Dalton, the so-called hermit and adventurer of Castle Crag in Borrowdale. In the 1920s and 30s, he managed to carve out a reputation by living in a cave and offering guided walks and canoe trips for tourists seeking a bit of excitement. A hermit in name only,…

  • The Bleak Back o’ Skiddaw

    The Bleak Back o’ Skiddaw

    It‘s been a wet and windy day in the Lakes, so naturally very little was accomplished. Instead, here is a photo from yesterday. The “back o’ Skiddaw” offers little to marvel at—a few sheepfolds dot an otherwise featureless landscape. Any rock that dares to stand out gets christened and turned into a boundary marker. This…

  • The Colours of a Rainy Dawn

    The Colours of a Rainy Dawn

    “Red sky at morning” is not always the “shepherd’s warning” or, for that matter, the “sailor’s warning.” Sometimes, just sometimes, it promises a pleasant day for the shepherd and a dry fleece for his sheep. Naturally, so the shepherds say, this depends entirely on whether the red sky “goes over” or stays sulking in the…

  • Storms, Sunlight, and a Trespass to Remember

    Storms, Sunlight, and a Trespass to Remember

    Given the grim weather forecast of strong winds, we opted for a walk that would not risk life and limb. The summit of Latrigg offered a theatrical view: a single beam of sunlight, no doubt feeling very pleased with itself, pierced through dark clouds to spotlight a few houses near Keswick, with Bleaberry Fell lurking…

  • Windermere and its History No One Wants to Discuss

    Windermere and its History No One Wants to Discuss

    It was a bit wet this morning in the Lakes, so here is a photograph from yesterday’s walk up Wansfell instead. This is, of course, Windermere, England’s largest lake, famed for its picturesque scenery but cursed with a history no postcard could capture. And I don’t mean the recent sewage discharge debacle. A favourite with…

  • Wansfell to Kirkstone and Rosa’s Vanishing Echoes

    Wansfell to Kirkstone and Rosa’s Vanishing Echoes

    A gentle stroll today, nursing our tired legs from previous heroics. Here is Wansfell, gazing northward at a line-up of Red Screes, Kirkstone Pass, Stony Cove Pike, High Street, and Ill Bell—quite the roll call. Kirkstone Pass, that lofty col between Ambleside and Patterdale, lent its name to an inn that once basked in the…

  • Charles Gough’s Fatal Ascent and his Dog’s Vigil

    Charles Gough’s Fatal Ascent and his Dog’s Vigil

    It has been some time since I last dragged myself up Helvellyn via Striding Edge. Definitely before the pandemic chaos. This photograph, taken around midday, gazes slightly east of south. St. Sunday Crag and Fairfield flaunt a dusting of snow. A marvellous day: cloudless peaks, sub-zero temperatures, and a wind that was brisk enough to…