A walk for the Sunday Papers

Off to get the papers -


down the road, past the cottages:







Along the Lane, and across the end of the Green:









Enjoy the plants peeping over the high walls:





Along the road to the newsagent's on the corner:

and into the newsagent's shop to buy the papers:

Back past the Green:

Along the road that slopes down from the Green to our little fell:

Through the gap in the stone walls - a type of stile known as a 'Fat Man's Agony':




Down through Prickly Fell:




Back down the road - admiring the campanulas en route :

Home again - and the pleasing prospect of an afternoon with the Sunday Papers:

A garden in June

Some pictures of my garden:

Geranium 'Johnson's Blue' with the white philadelphus peeping through

A bee visits

Carpet rose

Weigela



'Masquerade' rose

Welsh Poppy

This is a self-seeding poppy. I dead-head it every other day, cutting off the stems which have finished flowering. Then it throws out more and more flowers right until the first frosts. A modest but worthwhile little plant.

Ambleside - 2

Some more photos of Ambleside, taken on Wednesday.

The House on the Bridge - built around 300 years ago this has been described as a Garden House, a Summer House and an apple store. It is built over the Stock Ghyll, some have said to avoid land tax. Stock Ghyll ran between the gardens of the old Ambleside Hall (no longer there) and its orchard. It is said that at one time a family with 6 children lived in the two rooms!

The old mill wheel

Garden alongside Stock Ghyll

The Apple Pie Eating House

Old cottages in Ambleside:

cottages in Peggy Hill

Ambleside - 1

A visit to my favourite Garden Centre, at Ambleside:

View from the cafe

Wisteria-clad dovecote

Snarker Pike with rosa rugose in the foreground

Todd Crag - with escallonia

Late Winter or Early Spring?

Some photos taken yesterday:

Snow-capped Langdale Pikes above Windermere

Todd Crag from Ambleside

Daffodils, heathers and (left) corkscrew hazel (corylus avellana 'contorta')

Spot the Dog

As though to prove its rural credentials, where other publications might run a ‘Spot the Ball’ competition (which for those unfamiliar with the idea is a photograph of a football game where the ball has been removed; the competitors have to gauge from the position and the demeanour of the players, where the ball is likely to be) our local newspaper, the Westmorland Gazette runs a weekly ‘Spot the Dog’ competition.

Here we have a rural scene of a sheepdog herding a flock of sheep - and yes, the dog has been removed from the photo.the competitors mark with a cross the place where they estimate the dog should be. It is actually quite good fun. A knowledge of the behaviour of sheep is an advantage.

This week's competition photo is at the top of this page; go on, have a go - spot the dog!

Here is the newspaper’s cartoonist Colin Shelbourn’s spin on the topic:

8 August 2003
Major national news: Britain has a hot summer.
Even the Lake District gets a bit hot.

Due to the weather,
this week's ‘Spot The Dog’ competition
has been replaced with ‘Spot The Camel.’

A Winter's Day

Withering and keen the winter comes

While comfort flyes to close shut rooms

And sees the snow in feathers pass

Winnowing by the window glass...

from 'The Shepherd's Calendar' John Clare

But Winter hasn't really come, or at least it paid a fleeting visit last Monday but declined to stay.

I took these pictures of snow over Ambleside, just to prove to myself that we have managed a couple of wintry days, so far.

Post-Christmas Slump, or 'The cure for this ill'

This is the time of year when I unaccountably slide downwards into a mildly negative mood. Perhaps it is because the (excessive) purposefulness of Christmas preparations has gone, and there is nothing yet to replace it.

This morning was overcast, dull, windy, drizzly and utterly gloomy weather-wise. Could I stand going into town - again? During this nothing-will-please-me-today-no-matter-what mood, the several usually pleasant routes into town all seemed uninviting.

What was needed was Action!

‘The cure for this ill
is not to sit still
Or frowst with a book by the fire;
But to take a large hoe
And a shovel also
And dig till you gently perspire’

(not Kipling’s best - but nevertheless wise advice)

In this weather, digging was not an option, so we decided on a vigorous walk. We drove the 9 miles to Windermere, and parked in the village of Bowness. This is perhaps more a small town than a village and in the Summer it can be as crowded as Blackpool. Nevertheless, its situation reminds me faintly of those little towns on the Swiss lakes - an English spin on Vevey.

Today there were only a few locals and hardy visitors around. We had our coffee and a slice of the best lemon meringue pie in Cumbria at ‘Bowness Kitchen’ then did a circuit of Helm Road and Biskey Howe Road, a loop which takes you up to the Biskey Howe viewpoint - a huge reward for minimal effort. (although it doesn’t feel like that for the first quarter of a mile - it’s a bit of a stagger whichever end of the loop you start from)

A pile of twigs in a garden: Biskey Howe Road. I like the range of winter colours:

And above, a mysterious gate leads - where?

The path up to the viewpoint

The rocky outcrop looks like a mountain range from this angle



The viewpoint summit, with a misty Windermere, looking north towards Ambleside:

The summit looking south, towards Newby Bridge:

We rejoin the road...

... down to the village

And back to Bowness and human company again. And although it was raining by now - that typical Lake District rain which is blown in all directions at once, and an umbrella is a liability - our mood was lifted, the endorphins were released, and the ill most definitely cured!