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	In this beautiful weather Ann and I decided to walk the dogs together on a slightly longer, local walk. Loweswater lake is always beautiful on a nice day and we extend the walk up through the woods to visit High Nook Tarn, sheltering under the slopes of Gavel Fell.



The cattle grid at a busy Maggie's Bridge car park.	A quiet Dub Beck flowing out of Loweswater.

Just Ann, myself and the dogs today.

. . . and blue skies and fluffy white clouds of course.

It has been a great summer for weather and we are almost getting used to it . . . hope it lasts.

The sheep are away on the high fells so the lowland meadows are being left to grow as hay meadows.

With the new environmental stewardship payments to farmers, hay meadows attract a premium

so it is a win for the farmers, a winner for the birds and insects . . . and a win again for us photographers.

Through the gate . . . a first close up view of the lake.

Behind us the skies are getting bigger and wider.

The fells . . . Grasmoor, Mellbreak and Hen Comb.

Nestled under the northern slopes of Carling Knott are Watergate Barn (l) and Watergate Cottage.

A slight breeze disturbs the water on the lake just enough to spoil any reflections.

The dogs make a bee-line for the water in order to cool off.

Other visitors have unpacked an inflatable canoe and prepare to try it for the first time.

[ Good to see they've got buoyancy jackets just in case.]

Rather than walk round to the bothy we take the first path and head steeply up into the woods.



Holme Woods is a lovely mixture of deciduous species	The path continues steeply up through a larch plantation.



Dylan leads the way . . .	At the top we clear the woods and regain the view.

Over the lake we can see Myresyke and Askhill Farm with the rocky outcrop of Askhill Knott behind.

Our view here is much restricted by the trees which have grown in our time here in the valley.

Originally the area was clear and the views likewise.

The gate at the top of the woods leads out onto the Coffin Road.

Round the corner is the wooden seat overlooking the lake and the route heads on to Lamplugh and ultimately I suppose, St Bees Priory Church.

We're heading the other direction . . . back towards Loweswater village and home.

It is such a nice view of the area from up here.



The end of the woodland with Grasmoor in the distance.	The track leads on towards High Nook Tarn and Black Crag.

Loweswater Panorama . . .

from Whinlatter and the Lorton Valley, past Crummock and round to Red Pike and the High Stile Ridge overlooking the Buttermere Valley.

Clear air means a clear photo of Red Pike and High Stile nearly four miles away.

Lower down the farmer has been cutting bracken in an attempt to maintain a good grazing field.

Nestled under Black Crag, High Nook Tarn is in a small glacial hollow

and not connected to the main streams that descends from the slopes of either Gavel or Blake.

Harry and Dylan want to connect too . . . Harry peacefully and Dylan full of beans !

" Putting back the water he didn't need back into the stream "



Stepping stones across the outflow.	Warm enough for crocodiles to survive.

The tarn is a fraction deeper than what would be natural due to a small bank of stones forming a slight wall.

It has probably turned a muddy pool into a delightful small tarn. By the way . . . the crocodile is only a small stone, honest.

Bog beans (Menyanthes trifoliata)

I thought there was a beautiful blue blue damsel fly there when I pressed the shutter.

Ann takes time out to enjoy the view, finding the only spare stone on the damp grass next to the tarn.

On the other hand the dogs weren't bothered about sitting quietly.

Hold your cursor over the picture to encourage them to work off a bit more energy.

Such a peaceful place (once the dogs were quiet and not splashing us with water).

Time to be heading down now.

It was a short walk back to the gate in the fell wall

and down towards High Nook Farm

- - - o o o - - -

High Nook is a classic small hill farm

based on sheep and beef cattle production.

In recent years a new sheep shed or two has been added

but the old farm house appears unchanged

from the days when Alfred Wainwright stayed here,

using the bed & breakfast accommodation offered

to allow him to visit these western and north western fells,

far from his Kendal home.

- - - o o o - - -

( Before you get too excited please note that the farmer at High Nook no longer offers a 'B & B' service, sorry . . . Rmh )

The cattle roam free in the fields below the farm, taking advantage of the shade on this hot day.

Back to those lovely hay meadows again . . . that's Black Crag far in the distance now.

I think this is where we came in . . .

Time to return home and make some tea.

Hope you are able to get out and enjoy the summer sunshine.

- - - o o o - - -

Hi Roger and Ann,

Enjoyed your Loweswater walk of July 17th. Is there any fairer place in this wonderful World than Loweswater? Your hay meadows photos summed up Loweswater as a Summer scene which Wainwright once wrote as "a pastoral scene of contented cows grazing in fields lying alongside lanes full of wild roses and honeysuckle". How often I have walked along these lanes over the past 50 years or more en route for the fells humming away music such as ' Two English Idylls' by Butterworth or similar music by the Great Composers that like your photos transport one back to Loweswater when far away from Lakeland.

Anyway the reason I decided to put 'pen to paper' as it were on the IPad was your mention of Wainwright's stay at High Nook Farm. I seem to recollect I wrote to you several years ago that I once slept at the farm (Sept 27th and 28th 1968 to be precise having consulted my Lakeland Diary which I have diligently kept since my first Lake District visit as a young boy at the advice of the late Harry Griffin since he lamented not keeping a diary in his youth of his Lakeland adventures). Yes the farm no longer offers B&B. At least one more Lakeland abode doesn't boast a Wainwright bedroom by way of a plaque on a bedroom door. Must be scores of them now with all this Wainwright hysteria, I wonder what Wainwright's reaction would be ... I can guess.

When did the farm stop offering B&B? The farm was still offering B&B in the70's but my wife thought it just a little too rustic. she preferred the late Mrs Eland's ( previously of the Kirkstile Inn) at Jenkin Hill now Grasmoor House where we stayed every year throughout the 70's and until 1986 when she retired to Cockermouth. Anyway, perhaps by High Nook not offering B&B was its' saving grace. It remains a sequestered ramshackle Lakeland Farm of old, far off the tourist beaten tracks. When I spoke to the present NT tenant a few years ago he said the NT were just happy to let the farm remain as it always was, a throw back to yesteryears.

Well I have rambled on a bit ... nowt ont telly as they say in Yorkshire. Yes those photos of Loweswater were a real treat for a Lakeland Exile.

Many thanks . . . Robert Hardcastle.

- - - o o o - - -


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