Wed 26 Nov 2014
Richard and I have just come back from a trip to North Lakes with a stay at Braithwaite and then down Borrowdale. We got a slight shock when we found that one of our proprietors, whom we hadn’t seen for a year or so, has decided to change from man to woman! 😮
(click on photos for full size/resolution)
Most of the week the weather was pretty dire and we only had one good-weather day on the hill (which will come out in a later report). We did, however, have a bit of a day off on this, our last, day as we were both knackered. It was a day of low mists and very dark and dull so I decided we’d just take Richard’s digi-camera out between us as I didn’t want to waste any film shots. Surprisingly, some of the photos have come out quite nicely so I decided to put them out in a quick photo post.
We started off up Castle Crag as Richard felt we should include a peak… At first, I just ‘directed’ Richard and told him what I wanted on the photos. He had to frame this distant golden knoll with trees I insisted…
We both decided the visitor-built cairns made a nice foreground for an otherwise murky view back to the valley…
The summit area looked very wet and ‘washy’ in this shot of Richard’s…
It’s a bit of a steep route up this peak as Richard’s next shot shows where
he took a nice view under Castle Crag down the Allerdale Ramble towards Grange…
He took some more of our descent…
and one looking back up at the fierce crag…
I then hi-jacked his camera for a while for these shots…
I gave him his camera back but then got him to take this one of Glaramara’s Combe as we headed on up the Allerdale Ramble to Honister Pass for a cuppa…
We came out of the Honister Cafe to extremely cold clag and headed back down the pass to continue up the Seathwaite Road. I took this across to Rosthwaite Cam from the Seathwaite roadend campsite – looks primaeval to me…
Then I took another of Thornythwaite Fell…
I was particularly taken with Base Brown’s end which was swirling in and out of the mists so took these…
From Seathwaite Farm we headed back to get warm by the fire with tea, scones and rum butter 🙂 Although we were cold and tired, it just showed that it’s always worth going out for a wander even on the most dire-seeming days!
The Adventures of a Mountain Coward 
Borrowdale is a fantastic place. Beautiful scenery, good pub, and no mobile phone reception – unless that’s altered in the past couple of years.
Great photos, Carol. I haven’t been up Castle Crag for donkeys’ years.
Cheers, Alen
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I think it depends what network you’re on. I go up Castle Crag a lot as it’s such a short walk from our hotel so I tend to do it after tea in summer to walk off all the excess!
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Nice post Carol. I once spent an hour or so blundering round Castle Crag in the twilight looking for Millican Dalton’s cave – bivied there overnight with a couple of mates.
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It always looked quite a wet cave to me – dripping and so on – did you manage to stay dry? I think Millican Dalton was quite something – I’d have loved to have met him!
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I have had my eye on Castle Crag for a while now… but keep getting dragged up higher peaks. So much down there in any weather. Good photos… much better than your usual film camera equivalent :o)
It’s the future of photography!
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They are not better than my film ones!! 😐
Castle Crag is such a short walk from Rosthwaite I usually do it as an ‘after tea’ walk on summer evenings. You can pretty much do it in an hour…
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Lovely photos! You’re right – it’s always worth getting out. 🙂
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If I didn’t go out for a walk every day I’d end up hugely fat! 😉
Carol.
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Wonderful post! I can’t get over all the rock fences. Who does that? Thanks for taking me along. That’s some good country.
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The areas were so rocky that farmers have always used the stones in our ‘hill country’ and uplands to build walls instead of paying for fencing materials. Dry stone walling is hard work but great fun and very relaxing. It’s quite slow though – it takes me a few days to get a few feet built and really you need two people, one each side of the wall.
Carol.
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Ethereal and atmospheric. Your first sentence made me laugh. I still recall staying overnight in La Fouly in the Val Ferret on the SE side of the Mont Blanc massif and finding the owner was a Transvestite!
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It made Richard laugh too – he was still laughing at the end of our trip. I have to say I just didn’t know how to deal with it!
Carol.
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Misty stuff can make for some very atmospheric photos 🙂
Tea and scones sounds a rather civilised end to the day, too!
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It does make for atmospheric photos but I wish there’d been more light. If it had been more promising, I’d have taken my film camera out but, in the low light conditions we had, I wouldn’t have risked wasting any shots that day.
Tea, scones and rum butter are an excellent way to end the day. They were at the Royal Oak Hotel in Rosthwaite and they’re open to the public for tea and scones from about half three until about five 🙂
Carol.
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Lovely Borrowdale – one of my favourite Lake places. Superb photos too Carol 🙂
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Thanks 🙂 South Lakes next trip 🙂
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Wasn’t too far away from you on the 26th, I had a wander over Grisedale Pike & Hopegill Head. If I’d known I would have waved but doubt with the cloud you would have seen!
Cheers Simon
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That’s my favourite walk you were on! We only had one nice day that week and that was for High Rigg.
Carol.
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Such gorgeous photos! Love the lingering clouds and mist!
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Thanks Constance 🙂 It’s just a shame it was so dull with it – a bit more light would have been nice,
Carol.
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