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An afternoon walk, out of the valley, with chance to call on friends afterwards before they headed away for a few days.

The area around Cogra Moss reservoir has changed over the years and after a muddy couple of walks while the contractors were on site,

we return to find a newly resurfaced path alongside the lake.

The many signs and signboards that adorn the car park at Felldyke.

The view west over the Lamplugh area, from the memorial seat alongside the cars.

For our walk today we head up the track from the car park towards the Cogra Moss reservoir.

Owsen Fell seen across the fields to our left.

Shortly afterwards, as we top the small rise, the full extent of Blake Fell comes into view.

The old track is lined with ancient beech trees, one of which fell several years ago.

It must be an old track by the quality and quantity of moss on the adjacent walls.

The end of the road, albeit a gravel one.    The cleared forestry to the right has been replanted with broad leaf trees

but the sitka spruce is also naturally regenerating from old fallen seed.

There's a fence alongside the track to prevent you going too near the reservoir wall and outflow.

Somehow Dougal has found himself on the wrong side !!

The answer was simply that the open-ended fence finished shortly before the chairs !

There's some nice sunshine on Blake Fell but we are walking (and sitting) in the shadow of Knock Murton to our right.

In recent months the footpath alongside the lake has been improved,

whether this be for walkers or fishermen is unclear . . . I suspect the former, which is nice.

The path junction where you could start an ascent towards Low Pen, High Pen and strike out for Blake Fell.

Over the back of the forest beyond the gap are the iron mines on the southern side of Knock Murton.

This re-laid path seems to continue on quite a long way around the head of the valley.

We are aware that the path on the other side is still rather damp, so this afternoon we'll stop at this point and retrace our steps. 

That sun is getting much lower in the sky so we mustn't be too long.

Back toward the lake now on the second half of the walk . . . the views are the same, just in a different order.

The old path up and over towards the front of Knock Murton can be seen just below the tree line.

Cool light and conditions now as we return to the main vehicle track.

When we have a nice day and a drier spell, we'll have a specific go at walking all the way around the lake.

Who know how far that dry path will extend . . . it will be interesting to find out.

This old slate gatepost has been converted to a memorial seat.

It seems that the Lakes are full of memories for so many people.

Rounding the gentle bend in the track the skyline opened for a wider view of sunset over the houses of Felldyke.

The quiet honking of geese drew our eyes up into the sky

A whole waving line of birds flying more or less wingtip to wingtip, occasionally splitting and rejoining as they passed overhead.

Ann did count them at the time . . . I just concentrated on the full screen, diagonal shot.

[ Back home we confirmed the total in the first photo to be 70 birds ]

. . . giving us a nice show of colour before the afternoon light faded completely.