Category: Lake District

#ShortWritz: End of the Road

The A66 road connects east and west across northern England and runs through some of the highest parts of the Pennine Hills. Notorious for its severe winter winds that topple heavy wagons, it’s also very beautiful. Here, at its western end, this fast road soars across the glacial landscape, up and down like a bird of prey, before dropping us onto a scene of … Read More #ShortWritz: End of the Road

#ShortWrytz – Intricate Outlines

Winter offers the photographer a challenge – to be creative with what little colour there is… One way around this is to look for the most contrast to be found. In this shot, taken on a walk in the mid-afternoon, the pale sun was already falling towards the horizon, filling the shadows with a rich, inky darkness. Lovely! I walked for a while until … Read More #ShortWrytz – Intricate Outlines

#ShortWrytz – Bare Ash

It’s a view I get every morning, letting the pets out before making the first cup of tea. The beloved ash tree – almost certainly doomed to fade away when the ‘die back’ virus finally gets this far north Today, with the strong wind stripping away the last of its leaves, I had a deep and poignant moment when it seemed to face me … Read More #ShortWrytz – Bare Ash

Bad morning at the pharmacy

It’s been a bad morning at the Boots pharmacy in Kendal, which is why I’m posting some gentle pictures of the park where, earlier, I walked Tess before the catastrophe… The annual ritual of the flu jab is upon us. We soothe it with breakfast in Kendal afterwards; but we have a Collie dog, Tess, who needs at least two good walks plus frisbee … Read More Bad morning at the pharmacy

Above the Lion and the Lamb (part three)

It was past four in the afternoon. We had been walking for over five hours. Despite our best smiles – and Joh’s chocolate – we were tired, very tired. We were desperately looking for something – a path that should have been climbing up towards us from the steep lower slopes of the glacial corrie below. But paths – this far into a landscape … Read More Above the Lion and the Lamb (part three)

Above the Lion and the Lamb (Part Two)

We were on the Helm Crag plateau, about to climb up and beyond the Lion and the Lamb rocks to reach the start of the ridge. When you’ve just done a steep climb, it’s natural to feel that you’re ‘at the top’. In our case, this assumption was to prove expensive… It was time to say goodbye to the glorious views of Grasmere – … Read More Above the Lion and the Lamb (Part Two)

Above the Lion and the Lamb (Part One)

We were delighted to meet up with some friends from the UK who had emigrated to New Zealand many years ago. Bernie went to school with Kathryn and the couple had kindly collected and put us up in Auckland – their home, now – at the end of our short cruise from Sydney, last November. Jon is a keen walker, and has fond memories … Read More Above the Lion and the Lamb (Part One)

The way to dusty death?

We were in Ulverston, Dean and I. We’d just climbed the famous ‘Hoad’ – a tall monument on the top of a tall hill that looks like a lighthouse… but isn’t. There’s some important symbology in that, but we’ll return to it later. He was on his way back from Somerset to northern Scotland – the Glenlivet area of the North Cairngorms, where he … Read More The way to dusty death?

Stagshaw Garden

Stagshaw Garden is a sloping woodland garden of approximately eight acres. It is located on a steep slope named Skelghyll Fell on the north-eastern shores of Windermere, England’s largest lake. The area around Windermere is considered the centre of the Lake District. The word ‘Lakeland’ has become a normal way of referring, locally, to the Lake District. Most of the Lake District is protected … Read More Stagshaw Garden