And talking of favourite places......

Tarn Hows, always been a favourite of mine (and many others too). From winters days of sledging and skating as a kid, or long summers days fishing for roach and pike, to now, when it has become a favourite walk in winter or summer. Just an hours walk from the village, half an hour around the tarn and an hour back home. Always different, always beautiful and always good for photography.

Looking back at Coniston Water, on the walk up to Tarn How's.

Tarn Hows Cottage, with Coniston Old Man in the background.

The walk around the tarn.

Favourite places

A place can become a 'favourite' for all kinds of reasons. We all have many favourite places and this has become one of mine. Purely because of the photogenic nature of the trees around the old railway cutting just above Park Gate. Here are three images taken at different times of the year, but all taken in the last four months.

Today

 January

October

Early signs of Spring

An early morning walk along the old railway line this morning and we spotted these fungi. We've never seen them before, but identified them as Scarlet Elves Cups. They really were a vivid red colour, but apparently they are edible!! I would want to double check that before I tried them though, I always thought that bright red in nature meant poison!

A little further along the line and a nice view of the Catholic Church opened up.

Back to the village along the lake shore.

,

A flock of 76 Canada Geese were resting on the lake.

More signs of Spring as catkins start to open up.

And on the 27th of February, a very early, first wild primrose in Town Field.

Hardknott Roman Fort

Hardknott Roman Fort in winter.

Built around 130AD, during the rule of Hadrian, the fort was abandoned during the advance into Scotland during the mid-2nd century. The fort was then reoccupied around 200AD and was then in use until the last years of the 4th century. Strictly speaking, During this time the Roman garrison here did not consist of Roman soldiers, but a detachment of 500 cavalry of the 6th Cohort of Dalmatians, originating from the Dalmarian coast.

Today the archaeological remains give a good impression of the size of the fort and the impressive location gives rise to thoughts about the conditions endured here by it's Southern European inhabitants.

 Looking to the north west from inside the fort.

 Looking down the Eskdale valley.

 The western perimeter wall of Hardknott Fort.

Clear, frosty mornings.

Definitely still a feel of winter in the air, but the dry frosty weather is such a relief after the rain and floods that hit us in December. The days are getting longer , promoting us to get out with our Nikon cameras. So on Saturday morning we headed up to Blea Tarn in the Langdale valley.

On Sunday we left the village early and walked from Nibthwaite at the southern end of Coniston Water, up to Parkamoor and down through Dodgson Wood. A fabulous frosty morning, the air made clear by the northerly airstream, which was very evident as we walked in places that were more exposed to the elements.

Coniston Water and the Coniston Fells

Coniston Old Man

Spring?

At last the rain has stopped and we have had some blue sky and sunshine in the last week or so.

Spring flowers are responding as you can see from the photos I took in the village earlier today.

Time & Weather

Time and weather are the two things that have conspired to prevent me from putting more words and images onto this site. Too little time and too much weather. Things will change soon and hopefully I will have more time and with spring approaching, less weather. Well less of the kind of weather that keeps me indoors.

However, a brief respite in inclement weather can make for interesting photography conditions. Here is an image of The Langdales that I captured only yesterday, on what was a very unpromising looking morning.