the laKes - elterwater

Apologies for yet another off-theme page, but the Lakes in Autumn colours was not capable of being resisted as I was going up there to visit Rosie, anyway.

This sycamore by the roadside at Ings village was surely to be a taster of those glorious colours?

Not so when I viewed the tops from the fell road above Orrest. The Pikes should be looming to the right but only their shoulder peers dimly through the cloud.

Lower down, looking across the valley to Troutbeck, things seemed better again.

Fortified with food and a fine pint of Bluebird things still seemed OK, if a bit on the grey side, as I set off through the village.

Even at the turn-off, up Nanny Lane, there was only a thin mist creeping over the ridge. However there was absolutely no opportunity of improving on the shots I already have from Rosie's Place, the cloud and drizzle had closed in so much.

Heading south on the lightly used path down the ridge, at the upper edge of Skellghyll Wood, I came across this odd-looking structure of a drystone pillar some 8-10 ft high closely surrounded on all sides, except for an access opening, by a similar wall at some 2 ft distance. It could be a high walled sheep pen but for the pillar. The pillar would make sense unenclosed. But, together ... ?

The Lowwood Hotel complex on Lake Windermere seen in the mist from the Ambleside-Troutbeck track.

The effects of the mist, seen close-up.

The day's dampness was, surely, not responsible for this late/early/repeated flowering of this rhododendron ...

... at these cottages near the end of Robin Lane, Troutbeck.

But it takes more than an out of season flower to compete with the theatrical statement of these leaves of Virginia Creeper now at their short colourful zenith ...

... maybe an azalea competes on more equal terms.

Heading for 'home', now: The Britannia, Elterwater and its famous tree.

But this is 'home' for the next two nights, the original Elterwater Hall, now the Eltermere Country Hotel with ...

... a delightful 'traditional home-made' cuisine, and a wonderful prospect over Elterwater Tarn from that entrance, seen here the following morning.

 

Continued in Part II

Return to Top

VISTAS

.