....the fabled land of Cumbria!

So the last adventure of the Summer happened yesterday, a trip to the Mecca of photographers, the fabled land of Cumbria!
At 5.15am, I bundled both my daughters into the car and we were off. I was clever enough this time around to go to the library and borrow a couple of audio books. My soundtrack was "The Moving Toyshop" by Edmund Crisp, all 7 CD's worth.
I had been checking the weather over the last 2 weeks and the general consesus appeared to be changeable, rain, cloud and sun in Cumbria, sun at home. With this in mind, we all packed coats and prepared for another North Wales experience. The weather on the M6 seemed to bear out the forecast, however, once we neared Cumbria, the sun came out and the rich dappled shading on the Mountains near the motorway, was spectacular, taking all of our breaths away. The word "stunning" passed my lips for the first time of the day and certainly it was not the last.
I was organised for this trip and we had an itinary courtesey of that book of 1000 top places to see in the UK, plus some other places of interest. I have been to Cumbria a few times but never for the sake of the beauty of the place. My No.2 daughter wanted to go to Coniston Water where Donald Campbell, Speed King and National Hero, died in Bluebird. I wanted to go to Thirlmere, Castlerigg Stone Circle and Wast Water.
I had been in touch with an old friend who lives up there and although he wasn't available, he did say to avoid Windermere at all costs.
With his words ringing in my ears, I took a later junction off the M6, to avoid the main throughways and stupidly headed straight into Windermere. I have absolutely no idea why I did this and shortly after 9 we ground to a halt. After much stop starting and even more bad language on my part, we took an early turning to Coniston. The last time I was here was approximately 8 years ago and it was a sleepy little village. This time it was a bustling, thriving community of fat tourists with their fat cars that took up all the parking spaces. We couldn't get parked so I drive down to the foot of the Lake and watched as my girls taught themselves to skim stones, coached by a kindly old gentleman.
Our next stop was Thirlmere. I remember this Lake from that previous visit. It is in actual fact a reservoir. The Victorians flooded the valley to provide water for Manchester. It is beautiful and in places is very reminescent of Scandinavia. All 3 of us started towards the Lake when after 1/2 a mile we hit mud, deep, squelchy mud. No 1 daughter was not amused and went back to the car, No 2 and I continued. It was a difficult Lake to capture properly and given the short amount of time we were there, I made a start.
Next stop was Castlerigg Stone Circle. I was excited about this as the photos I have seen have been pretty incredible, an ancient stone circle surrounded by high peaks on all sides. The weather was so glorious this would be the photo to end all photos. This idea crashed and burned the moment we arrived there. It was absolutely heaving with people. There was no chance of that atmospheric and moody shot as there were families climbing all over the stones, fighting, arguing and generally being obnoxious..... I say obnoxious but only as they were ruining my picture. Everyone knows that wherever I am belongs to me and everyone else is a damned foreigner and tourist and is there just to strain my patience. However it is a magnificent place and a panoramic shot early or late in the day would be worth the trip alone but unfortunately not for me on that day.
The next stop was Wast Water. This was the highlight of the day for me. I wanted to see Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England and wasn't expecting too much but it was breath taking. A true blue sky with a few moody clouds creating drifting shades on the mountains, a clear lake and not too many people.
There was a path of stepping stones to a large rock formation in the actual lake. It would make a perfect staging post for my tripod....I was getting a feeling of deja vu but couldn't quite place my misgivings. I carefully picked my way across the slippery stepping stones and clambered up the rock formation, relieved to have nothing more than dirty finger nails. The view couldn't have been more perfect. It was windy so the lake was rippling rather than reflecting the powerful mountains that surrounded us. I took various shots, including a 3 bracketed series with the intention of using HDR's to create a panoramic shot. It was truly a case of wide angled isn't enough to capture this, it needed more mountains, more water and even that wasn't enough. It was a scene that you wanted to peel off, wrap it up and take it home to use as the back drop for your house. As I was stumbling back over the rocks, slipping and sliding, No 2 daughter warned me not to fall in like at Hebden Bridge. It all came rushing back and all of a sudden my footing was less sure, my balance less steady and the water started to look particularly cold. I put my safe arrival to shore down to the fact that I wasn't wearing a suit.

Time was getting on a little so I got the camping stove out and fried up some Chinese rice and added Cumbria hotpot to it. It was a foul mix, both dishes being lovely singly but not a good mix together. However, we were hungry and the hot food was more than welcome. I burnt the cooking pan so it was much like my cooking at home, a little charred in places. It was really time to go home so I picked a scenic route back along Hardknott Pass. This involved a single track lane over the mountains. It was surprisingly busy and amazingly steep. I had a couple of moments where I wandered how high the centre of balance on the car was and imagined the steering becoming a little too light as the front wheels were lifting. The drive was fun and the views were amazing, but as the road was single track, there were no places to park. After an hour I was becoming a little bored with concentrating and relished finishing this leg of the journey. The next leg that I hadn't bargained on, was Wrynose Pass, another mountain pass with sharp bends and no space. It did have a parking space a one point and I managed to snap a couple of shots of the view to ground, the mountains on all sides, a lake in the distance and lots of clouds and colour. Actually, I got the shot but it really didn't capture the moment. As I learn more the most important lesson that I have learnt is that not everything can be captured, there truly are moments to be savoured and remembered.
We eventually reached the M6 at around 7pm. A brief stop at Tebay Services as they have a fantastic Gluten Free range there (Sticky Toffee pudding, a Chocolate Indulgent pudding, biscuits, sausages etc). The journey home was uneventful, the audio book finished as I pulled into my road and as good as it had been, it ended up not making much sense, that could have been tiredness on my part but the ending spoiled an otherwise most enjoyable story. Still, who cares, it was a superb day, the weather had been glorious and the scenery breath taking, the icing on the cake was finding out that it had been torrential rain at home. I wished I'd taken more shots and wished that I'd seen more but there is always another day....roll on October for the return visit!