Hiley Website

In the midst of all the high pressure gloom of the 2018/19 New Year change-over there have been fine days

and last Tuesday was one of those as Ann and I walk the dogs locally to take advantage of the fine weather.

Morning has broken . . . or nearly . . . 8 am as the sun starts to colour the sky beyond the head of the valley.

Afternoon now . . . the ladder in our garden is for taking the Christmas outside lights down

and the plastic sheet drying over the gate was drying after keeping the frost off the car windscreen overnight.

- - - o o o - - -

After a busy morning in town and a leisurely lunch it was time for a walk.

" Starting at the Red Phone Box " implies that we started these walk from home of course.

Gillerthwaite's new paint shines brightly in the sunshine.

The gate into the next field is where a lot of people stop their car to take a photo of the valley

. . . so I'll do the same as we walk past.

A new sheep pen alongside the gate makes it easier for the farmer to check out and treat his sheep.

New paint on Grasmoor House too . . . photo taken with the namesake mountain of Grasmoor in the background.



To our left yet another plane flies high over the Lakes.	The hand painted sign implies " Shop this way " ==>

It has been a few years since Jenkin house has had a shop in its basement.

The fact that the little boy who painted it has now reached retirement age may give a clue . . . it speaks volumes for the quality of the paint too !

Scale Hill Bridge over the River Cocker.

Each time I get this close to the structure it reminds me of the 2009 floods when

even these two large arches were insufficient to deal with the volume of water that was heading downstream that day.

Ann and I decide to take the direct path up through the woods

in order to catch the maximum sunshine on the top of Scale Hill before the sun sets.



Dylan and Dougal climb the old Victorian steps . . .	. . . which are better preserved in some places than others.



Sunshine lighting up the old Scots Pines . . .	. . . and the mixed oak woodlands at this end of the hill.

New trees and bushes protected by the plastic sleeves are taking a time to grow.

Maybe it is the cold weather, the lack of sun or the poor soil on this western side of the small fell.

To the north however the temperatures are colder as seen by the ground frost still white on the ground.

As we climb Scale Hill the west face of Grasmoor is lost to view

but its re-appearance as we approach the last part of the climb is still a dramatic encounter.

Dylan and Dougal having a " golden halo" moment as they are backlit by the sun.

The shadow of Mellbreak is cast upon the mountains opposite as we look around at the summit.

Click here or on the photo above for a 360 degree annotated panorama.

On the summit we stop and chat with our friend Gill and our dogs have chance to play with her dogs.

The fast changing light as we talked showed how time passes quickly . . . especially at sunset.

You can almost see the movement of the sun itself as it sun dips down behind Gavel.

[ If you are an astrophysicist you would probably be imagining the truth which it that the sun is stationery

and the spinning of our planet means that the visual horizon is rising up to hide the golden orb . . . too technical ! ]

Which ever way . . . the valley is looking a lot colder now.

Gill in her "Gillett Jaune" sets off first . . . otherwise the five dogs would never stop rushing around together.

Her hi-viz outfit is not because she's a rebel, it is because her route includes a lot more road walking to reach this summit than ours does.



Final rays of the sun strike the top of Grasmoor . . .	. . . and then it was gone.

We head downhill on the forestry tracks towards the weir at Crummock

where the woods are a totally different colour without the sunshine.

At the beach the air is calm and there's hardly a ripple on the lake.

Perhaps because it looks cold the dogs haven't disturbed the water . . . so the reflections are complete.

Across the bridges . . .

. . . and onto the gated road, the Waterboard track back towards the village.

Ann leads the way as I hang back for a photo.

It really is getting towards dusk and the flash has no effect.

Ahead is the cottage, Gillerthwaite and the bright white light is the one on the side of the Village Hall at the top of the hill.

Time to get back home, draw the curtains and light the fire I think.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Panasonic Lumix TZ60, or my Panasonic Lumix Gx8 Camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . plenty of dry kindling.

Previous walks - 2nd-6th January - Our Pin Mill Visit 2019

A previous time up here - 8th December 2007 A Damp Scale Hill Walk

Next walk - 7th - 11th January - Open and Closed


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