Lingmoor Fell, Lake District, Winter
I’ve been wanting to get into the snowy mountains for a while.
As I’d accrued a fairly significant amount of flexi-time at work, I used it to take a mid-week day off and headed into Lake District.
Lingmoor Fell is a small hill I’ve had my eye on for quite some time. It’s only a modest fell, standing at 469 m (1,540 ft) a.s.l., but what it lacks in height it more than makes up with the sensational views it offers. Lingmoor Fell’s isolated position in the Central Lake District—separating Great Langdale from Little Langdale—means some of the finest panoramas in all the Lake District can be found on this small fell.
Though I ultimately didn’t feel confident or skilled enough to properly summit Lingmoor in the current sub-zero temperatures, I nevertheless managed ascending the fell’s shoulders and obtained some absolutely crackin’ photos.
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Vivitar “Series 1” 28–105mm f2.8–3.8 zoom and Laowa 9mm f2.8 prime lenses. Shot using the camera’s Classic Chrome film simulation, edited in Capture One for iPad, and finished in Affinity Photo 2 for iPad.
Lingmoor Fell, Lake District, Winter by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
The start of the walk ascends the fellside from Elterwater village, through winding country roads that have become a winter wonderland, totally frozen.
After navigating the country roads and Sawrey’s Wood, you soon emerge onto the open fellside with wonderful views across Great Langdale towards the Grasmere fells.
The tiny village of Chapel Stile in the Great Langdale valley, with the rusty, craggy fells looming high above in the morning winter light.
Lots of quarrying has happened around the slopes of Lingmoor Fell, and continues to this day (though on a much smaller scale). I sneaked into this disused quarry largely for the icicles.
The old miner’s track provided a clear way up the fell. The day was crisp and bitingly cold, with the moon clear above. My destination was the peak illuminated by the sun.
It didn’t take long before I came across the Lake District’s famous sheep, Herdwicks. The path continued up to the left.
Herdwicks are such posers. They know they’re pretty.
Up on the shoulder of Lingmoor Fell the views instantly open up in all directions. Here the rusty bracken and crags of Lingmoor Fell provide a nice contrast to the distant wintery views of Ambleside and the Kentmere fells.
Over the wall, towards Grasmere, Fairfield can now clearly be seen with a dusting of frost on its flat summit.
Herdwicks graze upon the scant vegetation of a crag. The ridge of Lingmoor Fell is totally lined with this drystone wall, making it easy to navigate along the fell.
I turned away from summiting Lingmoor Fell as the path quickly become a long sheet of ice. Instead, I skirted around its shoulder towards some disused quarries. Here, Wetherlam and Swirl How revealed their wintery magnificence to me.
I took a water break near this crag and started crawling around it with my ultra-wide angle lens, looking for compositions involving those beautiful wintery mountains.
This one’s probably the best of the bunch.
Heading back down the old miner’s track, I catch a glimpse of one the axe-like peaks of the Langdale Pikes, and line up a composition.
Not a bad place for a cottage, eh?
Back on the winding country roads towards Elterwater village.
What a crackin’ day.