My Top 10 Best Lake District Mountain Photographs

 I can’t get out and up into the fells at the moment for reasons explained in my previous post and so I’ve been trawling through my photos from the last few years and have selected my favourite 10. I thought I would stoop to the title of  ‘Top 10 Best ...’ as I read somewhere that this is a favoured search term on google eg. ‘Top 10 Best Smart Phones’, ‘Top 10 Best Oil Tankers’, ‘Top 10 Stickiest Glues’ etc. So here we go. Drum roll please.

In no particular order ...

1) Let’s start at ‘Lakes Level’ with a lovely Autumn scene looking over a glass calm Grasmere towards everyone’s favourite mini-mountain, Helm Crag and its bigger brother across Dunmail Raise, Seat Sandal. A circuit of Grasmere on a fine day is always a joyous affair but particularly so in autumn when the trees are at their very best.

Grasmere with Helm Crag & Seat Sandal

2) This is Side Pike on the path up to Lingmoor Fell. I love this view, with the dry stone wall, the heather and the Langdale Pikes in the background. It’s a lovely little fell within 30 mins walk from Blea Tarn. Well worth a visit at any time of year but even better in late Summer when the heather is in bloom.

Side Pike in late Summer

3) Another low level view. This one in winter from the old Walna Scar Road on a walk up to Dow Crag and Coniston Old Man. The view is looking over to Wetherlam and when the sheep turned round to look at me, it made for the perfect Lakeland winter picture.

Wetherlam in Winter

4) This next picture was taken from the summit of Grasmoor in the late evening during a summer wild camp. The light seeping through the clouds was just stunning and reflected beautifully off Loweswater and the Irish Sea. 

Loweswater Gold

5) Next is another winter scene. This is Dow Crag (left) and Coniston Old Man (right) from the same hike as picture 3) was taken. It looks quite calm and serene but the wind chill was around -15 degrees C as it was blowing a hoolie! 

Dow Crag and Coniston Old Man 

6) This next picture is of Ullswater with Gowbarrow Fell and the Great & Little Mell Fells in the background. The Ullswater Steamer and its wake sets the scene nicely. The picture was taken on a hike of the Deepdale Horseshoe in late November.

Ullswater from Thornbrow End

7) This photo was taken from the summit of Bessyboot and looks down the Borrowdale valley over Derwent Water and towards Skiddaw in its lovely winter apron.

Snowline on Skiddaw

8) This picture was taken on a winter hike of the Kentmere Horseshoe. I had hiked the route clockwise so the view is looking back over the ridge I had just hiked. The scene appears almost alpine with the 3 peaks of Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick in their winter coats.

The Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick Ridge

9) This is the view that will reward you if you make the easy climb up onto Rannerdale Knotts by the banks of Crummock Water. In fact you don’t even have to make it to the summit as this picture was taken from a small promontory about half way up. The view is of Mellbreak, a stunning mountain dominating the western shore of the lake. 

Mellbreak over Crummock Water

10) One the of best winter hikes in Lakeland must be the classic route up Helvellyn via Striding Edge and Swirral Edge. I was lucky to have a perfect calm, cold winters day for this hike. The view is looking back along the route I had already hiked, along Swirral Edge and towards Helvellyn.

Helvellyn over Swirral Edge

11) I know I said the top 10 best photos but having just shown shown you Swirral Edge in winter, it would be remiss of me not to show you Striding Edge from the same day. So this is the view that greets you as you stand at the start of this magnificent arete just before you take the plunge. Just stunning!

Striding Edge & Helvellyn

So that’s its. My 'best 11' fell photos of the past few years. Hopefully more to come in 2021 if this bleedin virus does one!  

A Bessyboot Bimble & some Geology

Date: 24th Feb 2017
Start/Finish: Seatoller
Wainwrights: Rosthwaite Fell (Bessyboot)
Distance: 7 Miles
Height Gained: 2746 feet
Time Taken: 5 Hours

The route: Clockwise from Seatoller

This walk was about snatching the one fine day amongst a maelstrom of recent grim weather. Storm Doris struck yesterday and today was a lull before the wind and rain returned. A quick perusal of the 'outstanding Wainwrights' revealed a few stragglers that needed ticking off. Fleetwith Pike and Rosthwaite Fell were good candidates and the latter was closer. I wanted to be done and dusted my mid afternoon when the grim weather was forecast to return, so it was a 5am alarm for a 7:30 start.

Seatoller

I parked at Seatoller and headed up the path by Comb Gill, pausing by the waterfalls to take in the impressive scenery.

Comb Gill waterfalls

Looking back towards the 'Jaws of Borrowdale' and Derwent Water

 The path steepens as it climbs up towards Bessyboot (Rosthwaite Fell) and the views open up over towards the Seathwaite Fells which were all capped with snow.

Glaramara over 'The Combe'

Spectacular views from Bessyboot summit

Tarn at Leaves with Rosthwaite Cam beyond

From Bessyboot it's a pathless meander down to 'Tarn at Leaves' and then steeply up onto Rosthwaite Cam with a real scramble to get up onto the summit of the Cam itself.

Rosthwaite Cam views westwards to Dale Head and Seatoller far below ...

... and northwards towards Borrowdale ...

... and eastwards over to Ullscarf

Rosthwaite Cam views over 'The Combe' to Glaramara

For any budding Geologists 'The Combe' is one of the Lake Districts finest examples of a glacial hanging valley. It looks like a huge spoon has scooped a bowl shaped depression out of the side of Glaramara but it is of course formed by glacial erosion. Hanging valleys are formed when a smaller valley (which erodes more slowly) meets a larger glaciated valley (which erodes more quickly). The hanging valley is found perpendicular to and above the main valley and often forms spectacular waterfalls as streams from the overhanging valley spill into the main valley below. The waterfalls of Comb Gill are great example of this as they tumble downwards to feed into the River Derwent in the Borrowdale valley.

Steeps crags (truncated spurs) form the sides of hanging valleys and are perfectly illustrated here by Bessyboot and Thornythwaite Fell respectively.

Glaramara and the Borrowdale valley as seen from Grange Fell

My walk was essentially a horseshoe route circumventing The Combe. It's a great route to appreciate the geology of the region.

The Combe from the flanks of Glaramara

Zoomed in on Derwent Water

The steep crags of Glaramara

Looking back over to Bessyboot from the apex of the horseshoe route ...

... and over to Fleetwith Pike

The Borrowdale valley from Thornythwaite Fell

Looking over towards Green Gable et al

The Combe - Lakelands finest glacial hanging valley ...

... complete with waterfalls ...

,,, and spectacular views to the main Borrowdale valley below

 Thanks for reading.

Mopping up the Eastern Fells

Date: 19th June 2015
Start/Finnish: Patterdale
Wainwrights: Arnison Crag, Birks, St Sunday Crag, Dollywagon Pike, Nethermost Pike, Helvellyn,
   Catstye Cam.
Height Gained: 5224 feet
Distance: 12 Miles
Time Taken: 9 hours

The route - Clockwise from Patterdale

I had 3 Eastern Fells left to climb; Arnison Crag and Birks (simple enough), and then Catstye Cam (another 2 valleys away). It was going to take a long walk to link them all up. After parting with £4.50 to park at the Patterdale Hotel I headed up the steep path to Arnison Crag. My lack of fell time this year became obvious within about 20 minutes and I quickly realised it was going to be a long, tough day.

Arnison Crag view over Ullswater

Arnison Crag view up to Birks

Arnison Crag summit panorama east

Arnison Crag summit panorama west

From Birks I could see that St Sunday Crag was moving in and out of cloud but all the high fells around Helvellyn were fully shrouded. When I got up onto St Sunday Crag it was under cloud and there was a fierce wind. I headed over to a sheltered spot overlooking the Deepdale valley for a bite to eat and to wait and see if the summit cleared. The last time I was up here visibility was appalling and so I wasn't about to give up too easily. Luckily patience paid off and I was rewarded with a few fleeting views over both neighbouring valleys although all the higher fells remained under cloud. Satisfied, I headed off to Grisedale Tarn.

St Sunday Crag from Birks

St Sunday Crag summit just below the cloud base

Fleeting views over the Deepdale valley

The onwards path

Grisedale Tarn comes into view

Looking down the Deepdale valley

Seat Sandal, Grisedale Tarn and Dollywagon Pike

The path from Grisedale Tarn up onto Dollywagon Pike is a zig-zag upwards slog and it was near the top of this path that the cloud base was reached and visibility reduced to about 50 feet. After small deviations from the main path to bag Dollywagon and Nethermost Pikes I headed on up to Helvellyn. It was not pleasant up there. The wind was a steady 30mph and bitingly cold with occasional drizzle thrown in for good measure. It felt like November rather than June.

Seat Sandal over Grisedale Tarn

Fairfield making a momentary appearance

The last of the views for the next few hours

The stone tablet on Helvellyn summit commemorating the first plane landing on a mountain in 1926

The summit shelter

Helvellyn summit - nothing to see today

I carefully picked my way down onto Swirral edge with the wind showing no mercy. This was new territory for me and the ridge demanded full concentration. It is the equal of striding edge but seemed a lot shorter, but that could be deceiving as I could see nothing further than about 20 feet. I headed off up the short climb onto Catstye Cam but didn't linger as it was obvious that views would not be forthcoming and the wind was relentless.   

The uninviting way down onto Swirral Edge from the summit plateau

Somewhere on Swirral Edge

Somewhere else on Swirral Edge

Catstye Cam summit - imagination required

It was here that I made my mistake. Without checking the compass I followed the only obvious path down in the opposite direction to the one I came up. I inadvertently took the northern path down towards the steep northeast ridge. The path I intended to take was southeast from the summit and I obviously didn't notice it. It was only when I got under the cloud that I realised my mistake. I tried to skirt around the mountain to pick up the correct path but the crags soon became too steep and so I carefully picked my way down the rocky terrain. Ah well. It made for an interesting detour which my knees just managed to survive. It also added a good hour to an already long walk. 

Finally emerging from cloud and realising I'm on the wrong side of the mountain

Ah well, unexpected views of Keppel Cove Dam

Looking down the valley to Sheffield Pike and Glenridding

Heading back into cloud on the other side of Catstye Cam

Finally, the 'hole-in-the-wall'

The homeward path

Views over Grisedale valley to St Sunday Crag ...

... and Birks

Looking back up the Grisedale Valley ...

.... and back over to Arnison Crag, where I was 8 hours earlier

It was a weary hiker that plodded back to the car 9 hours after leaving. That was about the limit of my capabilities for a day hike. It will be a nice, easy stroll next time ....