As I was able to follow my own agenda, I decided to concentrate and explore on a small area in detail. Following last years trip I thought that the western side would be the place for me. After an evening drive up there the day before, I awoke on the southern banks of Coniston Water. Here I was greeted with a delightful still dawn and made some images of the lake with perfect reflections of the mountains above. It was a great start to the week and it filled me with a wonderful sense of enthusiasm and adventure.

After a spot of breakfast, I felt the wild and rugged voice of the Dudden Valley calling. On arriving, I found that the village of Seathwaite a good place to park the van for a couple of days and explore the surrounding valley. From here I made several images, mostly of intimate details that reflected the weathered landscape and remoteness of the area. The weather was most agreeable too as mists and a light drizzle came down to give the hills and valley a foreboding feel with an eeriness that leapt straight from the pages of the Lord of the Rings.

My next stop was the desolate lake of Devoke Water high up on Birker Fell with its lonesome looking boathouse. After a couple of shots of the lake, I decided to take a closer look at the boathouse itself which on closer inspection had its door broken down. Clambering in and up the stairs I found myself in a room that looked like it had been frozen in time. A small fireplace in one corner and a table and chair in another and a carpet on the floor. Upon the table were the remains of what looked like somebodys breakfast and a newspaper dated April 1984, the headline being that Bobby Kennedy had just died. This just begged for a photograph. Setting up, I just couldn’t help feeling that the person whose room it was could suddenly return after 26 years, bedraggled, fully bearded and hungry.

Next stop was Eskdale, I spent just a brief time there as I was heading for Wasdale. As I headed up the valley the snow on the ground became thicker, I parked up at the foot of the Hardnott pass ( I wasn’t attempting that one again in a hurry). From there on, I walked uphill to the roman fort . I stopped half way up for a shot of the snow covered valley behind me, a scene that encapsulated all that was rural, wintery and English. I made just one image of the fort, a close view of the outer wall and snow before heading back down and driving over to Wasdale.

The road in to Wasdale was astonishing, the sun was getting low at this point with about 45 minutes before sunset giving a warm glow to everything in its path. I had to stop on the roadside to make an image of a row of trees with Whin Rig looming above the Screes in the background. I reached the shores of Wast Water as the last of the sun gleamed on to the snow clad mountains of the Scafell range, I managed to find a nice composition of the mountains and lake where the rocks in the foreground  seemed to reflect an inverted mirror image of the mountains beyond. The next day was a beautiful cloudless day with snow all over. I spent the day just exploring around the upper valley of Wasdale Head, finishing up near to where I was on the lakeshore the evening before as the sun gave a fully blown pink glow to the mountains over the water.

The next day I backtracked back over to the Dudden Valley and Birks Bridge to make some images there, and then back down to Seathwaite to revisit the crag I had studied a few days earlier. My last night before my return journey home was spent up on Birker Fell just by the track that leads to Devoke Water, to get a shot or two of the sunrise over the moors and peaks to the east the following morning. That was a very cold night indeed. I awoke to my alarm clock at 6.45 to find the inside of the van iced up and my walking boots frozen solid, but those two hours on that hillside watching the sunrise made it more than worth it.

 The weather was O.K., we had missed the snow from the previous week but the wind was at a minimum and the mountains were draped with dramatic brooding clouds.  The week started at 1:am after an 8 hour drive from Hove, in a wooded car park about a mile before Grassmere in our little Romerhome. Saturday was mostly spent in Keswick getting supplies for the week, food, gas and a good outdoor coat for Kate. In the car park behind the highstreet, I stumbled upon the gallery of large format photographer Lee Chapman displaying his superb cybarchrome prints of the lakes and fells. The next stop was Buttermere via Newlands Hause. Sunday 15th was our fist attempt at fell walking up to the Scarth Gap Pass at the southern end of Buttermere. A couple of images were made at at the bottom before the assent of Fleetwith Pike, waiting around for 2 hours for the cloud to move in to the right position to express that initial feeling of grandness. I added the stone in the foreground not only to mirror the mountain behind, but to reflect on the vast geological age of the rock, from its molten beginnings at sea level through the glacial carving and sculpture of the ice age,  to the present day where life takes hold in the form of grasses and pines.

The following morning was spent exploring the southern end of the lake. Three images were made here, another one of Fleetwith Pike taken from the middle of the road, just as the road started to get busy. I must say I did get some odd looks as I was directing traffic around my camera at 8.30 in the morning, waiting yet again for a stubborn cloud to get in to shape. That afternoon was spent driving slowly up and down Borrowdale, a glorious and quintessentially English looking Valley with old dry stone walls, quaint villages and hillsides that make you want to stop the car and run up them. We finally pulled up at the farm campsite at Seathwaite which seemed the ideal spot to spend the next couple of nights, which indeed it was. The upward path from Seathwaite along Grains Gill is probably as great as the Lake District gets. The view of Stockley Bridge that crosses the stream is one of those classic biscuit tin shots and the perfect place for a picnic. Further up (from the left hand path after the bridge)you come to a waterfall that cuts deep through steel blue rock that has endless image potential. Here I spent a couple of hours looking for compositions (which I made two of) that explored the force and erosive power of the water and its effect and on the rock, I also wanted the images to reflect the immense pounding sound of water which is such a dominant feature of the scene.

After some time in the Borrowdale area we headed down to Great Langdale. Two images were made here, the first on a fine fresh dawn with a good light. As I wasn’t familiar with the area I decided to make my image from the roadside, up through Mickleden with the trees in the foreground. A considerable amount of front rise was applied to the lens here to avoid pointing the camera up. The second image was made a short walk up Lingmoor Fell of a stone wall and gate looking across the dale towards Mickleden. Sometimes “waiting for the light” can be a magical experience giving you time  to absorb the surroundings and fully appreciate the landscape we have inherited to look after. The next morning saw the poor old Romerhome chugging up the steep hill to Blea Tarn. Having just made it, I was greeted with a perfectly calm mountain lake pre-sunrise. I made three images here with the mirrored Tarn lending itself to a tranquil foreground, one of which meant standing ankle high in a freezing bog for over an hour. That afternoon was spent driving to Wasdale Head at the upper end of Wastwater over the Hardnot Pass. I now see why its called the Hardnot  Pass, A, its HARD to drive a campervan up and B, It will NOT make it to the top! It wasn’t long before I had carefully reverse the thing back down hoping it wouldn’t tip over!! Well I did manage to navigate it back down, so we drove the long way round which wasn’t a bad thing as we got to drive through the Dudden Valley, somewhere I shall be exploring in more detail on my next visit.

Wasdale Head was the last stop on the adventure. Two images were made here, one halfway up Yewbarrow looking across the dale and another of a lone tree on the path to Scarfell the next morning before the arduous drive back to Hove.

On Friday the 13th (oh no!) I shall be visiting the Lake District for the first time, I’m not quite sure where about yet as I will be flitting from place to place in my campervan. On my return (if I haven’t frozen to death) I shall hopefully be putting the successful images up on the latest images page.