We had been wanting to spend a day over in the Lakes to drive around visiting some of our favourite spots and take loads of photo's. As everyone knows the weather in the Lakes can be so unpredictable, so we had been watching the forecasts closely and today looked like the day. The weatherman was promising blue skies and lots of sun, but a bitterly cold day, I wasn't that optimistic on the drive over, as the whole of the area was covered in a blanket of cloud. But by the time we had stopped off in Keswick for coffee and bacon buns for breakfast this had cleared and the sun was shining! Since we were in Keswick, we decided to head down to the lake and wander along to Friar's Crag for a few photo's of the lake, and the surrounding fells. There was no overall plan for the day, well apart from having a great day out, so next we drove down into Borrowdale, stopping off in Rosthwaite for another wander along the quite lanes. Rather than head back to Keswick we took the Honister Pass road over to Buttermere, where we had a stroll along the shores of the lake and a visit to the church. This was were the big choice had to be made, did we head further round the western side of the lakes and have the long drive back, or not. My back wasn't that brilliant so we drove back through the Newlands valley to Keswick and then down to Thirlmere, were we planned to have a picnic lunch. Yeah, right a picnic at the beginning of February, like that was a great idea LOL .... we ended up eating our dinner in the car with the heater on full blast it was that cold! Over the cold egg mayo buns and luke warm coffee we decided to head over Kirkstone Pass to visit Brothers Water, Ullswater and ultimately Aira Force before heading home. The drive up Kirkstone Pass from Ambleside was ok till we got to 'The Struggle' were we found loads more snow than expected. The road was just about wide enough for one car in places so we were glad not to meet any cars coming in the opposite direction. By the time we reached Brothers Water the wind had seemed to pick up and it was really bitterly cold, so much that I was having problems holding the camera for the photos. We decided that enough was enough and headed straight back home from there. It was a brilliant day with some stunning views, but a long and tiring one, I was ready for a long soak in the bath to warm up, while Sheena made the tea!
The 'Crazy Golf' course in Hope Park
We even spotted a few clumps of Snowdrops was we walked through the park
A view of a cloud topped Skiddaw from the park
The Theatre by the Lake
Skiddaw from Crow Park
Looking across Derwent Water towards the unmistakable Cat Bells
A view along the lake towards a cloudy Borrowdale
The view to the west with Grisedale Pike and Causey Pike dominating the skyline
A close up view of Grisedale Pike
Catbells again, this time from the new waterfront at Keswick
Causey Pike Pike from Friars Crag
and other view, this one without the trees
Catbells from Friars Crag
Looking south along Derwent Water from Friars Crag
Friars Crag with Causey Pike behind
A slightly different angle this time, with Grisedale Pike also visible
The cloud was starting to lift off Skiddaw by the time we had got back to the jetties
One of the Derwent Water launches getting ready to head off for a trip around the lake
There were also plenty of ducks and birds waiting to be fed by the tourists, they kept well away from Tim dog though!
Looking north along Derwent Water from the Kettlewell car park
A close up shot of Skiddaw from the same spot, looks to be plenty of snow left on the tops!
Next stop was a visit to Rosthwaite and a walk along the Cumbria Way underneath Castle Crag
Jopplety How from the path leading down to River Derwent, Carlside and Longside Edge are visible in the far distance
High Scawdel and Tongue Gill from the stepping stones across the river
The 'New Bridge' across the river with Kings How behind
Me and Tim dog (his first appearance today) crossing the bridge
Another view of the bridge, from the other side of the river, with Castle Crag behind
As we walked back towards Rosthwaite there was still lots of visible signs of the damage from the October 09 floods, here all the fences and parts if the path had been washed away
A view of the High Stile ridge from the road down into Buttermere from Honister Pass
The lovely church of St. James in Buttermere
The stained glass window in the church
The 'Wainwright' window in the church, gives a stunning view out towards Haystacks, where AW had is ashes scattered
Looking SE along Buttermere towards Fleetwith Pike
On the northern side of the lake the slopes of Robinson dominate the view
A view of the Scar Crags to Causey Pike ridge from the shore of the lake
The huge ravine of Hassness How Beck
As we walked along the shore of the lake, Dalehead started to appear into view
A close up shot of Fleetwith Pike, with the slopes of Dalehead on the left, valley is where we drove along earlier from Honister
Just a slight twist of the lens for the perfect shot!
Tim dog having fun in the lake, as usual
The Fish Hotel in Buttermere with Grasmoor peaking out from behind Rannerdale Knotts
Whiteless Pike and Wandpe from the summit of the Newlands Pass
Looking down into the Newlands valley from the top of the pass, that's Blencathra in the distance
The High Spy ridge from Keskdale
Skiddaw again from near to Uzzicar
Looking along St Johns in the Vale towards Blencathra from Thirlspot
Browncove Crags from the same spot
Yoke, ill Bell and Froswick from the Kirkstone Pass road
The sun was just catching the crags on Red Screes
There was still plenty of snow at the Kirkstone Pass Inn
Looking back up at Kirkstone Pass from the shores of Brothers Water
The Angletarn Pikes from Brothers Water
I just loved the way these trees were silhouetted by the sun
Hartsop Dodd with Gray Crag behind
and The Knott
By now I was frozen, so time to head home!
I hope that you have enjoyed looking at the photograph's from this walk? If you have any questions or comments regarding them or the walk in general, please either leave a message below, or send me an email, and I will get back to you asap. Thanks Gary ...
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Our last walk was a visit to Summerhill Force and Low Force
Our next walk was at Reeth
Other Lake District walks 2010 walks journalAll of the photograph's from this walk were taken using my Sony A700 camera or Sheena's Canon Ixus 100IS camera
© www.mywainwrights.co.uk (This page was last updated - 21 February 2010)
