Patterdale to Bampton

Shirly's farmhouse was a sanctuary of peace and good humour.
The house was built in the seventeenth century and the floor
beams were salvaged from a decommissioned sailing ship.

Click on the photographs to enlarge

The view from the farmyard. On the left is the hill up which we
trudged towards the edge of the Lake District.

Looking eastwards into the morning mist and the rounded off
 mountains we would walk passed. 

One of the buildings on the valley floor is Shirley's farmhouse
where we spent a comfortable night and where we were made
very welcome. 

The higher we climbed the thicker the mist became. By lunch
time visibility was down to 5/10 yards. These conditions
challenged our navigational skills. 

Suddenly the mist withdrew revealing a majestic landscape with
scimitar curved ridges like the arms of a spiral galaxy
revolving clockwise in geological time.  

Throughout the morning the mist played touch and go - here one
 minute, gone the next. During the clear periods I snapped away as
 best I could to catch the magnificence of the mountains.

A flash of sunlight chanced it's hand and fleetingly graced
the valley floor. 

The dark sky hinted at rain but that was only to fool we poor humans. 

Our first glimpse of Angle Tarn was during the build-up to a
storm that never happened. 

One minute dark and threatening, the next minute bright and all
 is forgiven. In Australia Angle Tarn would have long been
recognised as a sacred site - a corroboree place.

A solitary didgeridoo player on each promontory and on each island
within the lake could call-up a mystical mantra to float and fuse into
a primordial chant of unity.

The sheer spiritual energy of Angle Tarn made it easy to sense
the wafting drone of a didgeridoo chorus echoing across the
waters of the lake and from each hollow in the surrounding hillsides. 

And ever onwards!
Ten thousand trampers on a narrow path can create conditions
which lead to significant erosion. 

An Ice Age round topped mountain giving all the appearance of a
sleeping 'thing' just waiting to stir and go goodness only knows what.

A 'U' shaped valley catches a little sunshine.

A long view across the mountain tops with a little more sunshine.

Frequently the ankle jarring paths were running in water. 

The view across the valley from beyond Kidsty Pike shows
 the rugged face of Riggindale crags where a pair of golden
eagles are said to have their eerie. The birds would appear to have
chosen well.



 Our first glimpse of Haweswater Reservoir with its 'sterile'
rim of fractured rock.

A long view, over the reservoir, towards the Lake District
mountains which we'll walk on no more.