Lingmoor Fell, Lake District, Winter
I’ve been wanting to get into the snowy mountains for a while.
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.
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Whitbarrow, Lake District, Summer
It was time to continue exploring a “local” fell.
It was time to continue exploring a “local” fell.
The first time Lisabet and I checked out Whitbarrow was only a few months ago, March in fact. Considering it’s just a few miles west of Kendal, it’s incredible that we’d never hiked up the fell in all our time living round here.
Our spring hike gave us a nice little introduction to the potential of Whitbarrow. Now we’re in the summer, we ventured up once again with a slightly different—and longer—route.
In particular, after summiting Lord’s Seat we took the trail through the Nature Reserve part of Whitbarrow to find a landscape more akin to a tropical jungle!
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using two of my prime lenses: a Samyang 35mm f/1.2 and an adapted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0. Images made 75% in-camera using a customised Classic Chrome film simulation, with some finishing edits afterwards in Snapseed and Affinity Photo.
The area around Whitbarrow seems to be a veritable treasure trove for wild food foragers! Near where we parked, we found a hedge full of sloe or blackthorn, Prunus spinosa. Anyone fancy making some sloe gin?
The hike up and through the Township Plantation to get onto the fell gave us an indication of how fecund Whitbarrow was in comparison to March. Ferns everywhere.
Despite only being the first day of August, some of the abundant fern was already changing into its autumn colours.
A silver birch surrounded by multi-hued fern caught my eye as we approached the open limestone fellside of Whitbarrow.
The soft transition of light between the highlighted ferns and tree trunks compared to the gloom of the inner woodland.
Pretty purple heather is starting to blossom. A sure sign that late summer is coming.
We exited the Township Plantation and followed the trail east up onto the open fell.
Looking back at the woodland we navigated through to get onto the open fellside.
This is where you start to see some fantastic limestone formations and glacial erratics ahoy. My lovely Lisabet providing a sense of scale here. In the distance, a little to the right, you can just make out the unmistakeable shape of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales.
Young cows up on the fell didn’t want to give me and my camera too much attention.
The wonderful contortions of the common juniper, Juniperus communis.
I followed Lisabet on a trail northwards, to see how the views opened up towards the Lake District fells. The clarity was rather lovely.
Lisabet checking out some of the more shapely trees around the northern edge of Whitbarrow. Additionally, a view of the Langdale Pikes could clearly be made out.
We retraced our steps and picked out a trail heading south towards the Flodder Allotment part of Whitbarrow. The path took us through a silver birch plantation near Horse Pasture Wood.
This is the way to the summit of Whitbarrow, known as Lord’s Seat. There were plenty of other hikers around the fell, though certainly not enough to make the area feel busy.
As we gain height the views of the surrounding fells open up. A young family play around the limestone escarpment that forms a natural boundary for the Nature Reserve. In the hazy distance lies the Howgills.
Approaching the wind-blasted summit and cairn of Lord’s Seat, which also serves as a signal to take a rest for water and a snack.
The view south from Lord’s Seat. Rather lovely isn’t it? To the right is the coastal village of Arnside with Arnside Knott above it, and in the far distance is the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.
We closed in on the limestone wall that serves as a natural perimeter of the Whitbarrow Nature Reserve. I couldn’t resist these curving shapes offered by a pair of juniper trees set against the escarpment.
There are plenty of trees that grow out of the limestone wall, which then get blasted by the wind, resulting in remarkable scenes like this.
We finally found the trail that heads into the Whitbarrow Nature Reserve and took it northwards to eventually rejoin our original path. I’ve never seen a place like it! Very much like a jungle.
As we neared the Township Plantation once again, the Nature Reserve opened up and we found this beautiful world of limestone columns, stunted trees, and the floor carpeted in flowers. Like a lost world.
Two pillars of limestone, putting me in mind of a bee hive or something. Incredible.
Askham Fell, Lowther, Cumbria, Spring
Everything is starting to look proper lush.
Everything is starting to look proper lush.
After a completely washed out Saturday, today looked significantly more promising. Lisabet had found a 7.5-mile circular hike around the Lowther Estate that utilises a section of the Ullswater Way, so that’s what we did.
The walk starts at Lowther Castle and heads southwest down to the River Lowther, skirting around the tiny village of Helton and hiking west up Askham Fell. Near the summit you turn northeast and down to Askham village, over the river again, and back up the castle. Nowt particularly gruelling but a good variety of scenery, historical interest, and views for miles and miles.
We managed to avoid the rain, too.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my three prime lenses: a Samyang 35mm f/1.2, a Laowa 9mm f/2.8, and an adapted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0. Images are largely straight-out-of-camera using Fuji X Weekly’s “Ektachrome 100SW” recipe, with a couple of minor tweaks in Lightroom and Affinity Photo.
This is Lowther Castle. The roof has been removed and much of the stonework demolished, leaving the “shell” of the castle—technically a country house—intact with lots of plants and vegetation allowed to grow within.
Some of the gatehouses have been left alone, offering this interesting composition involving the castle ruins. Just a shame about the gate.
We crossed the River Lowther here, heading vaguely in the direction of Helton. In the far distance are the “backends” of the eastern Ullswater fells.
This gorgeous lane takes you up and through the fields towards Helton. Hemmed in with dry stone walls and lined with old trees and plenty of flowering plants.
A seriously pretty lane. It may well have been used, in times gone by, to guide livestock between fields for grazing.
On the outskirts of Helton, a cute pony had zero interest in our offers of friendship. Fair enough.
Helton village towards the left. A scene of English rural idyll.
A rather fine solitary tree that I head to feature in a composition, especially with the dry stone walls as leading lines.
Heading west, this is the track heading up to Askham Fell (323 m/1,059 ft), lined with drystone walls.
My lovely Lisabet, with the expansive view behind.
This is the Cop Stone, a standing stone located near the Moor Divock stone circle on Askham Fell. A prehistoric monument, it’s reason for being lost in time. In the distance is the unmistakeable wall of the Northern Pennines.
Heading back down Askham Fell.
Askham village ahead, with the shadows of Northern Pennines looming above in the distance. The village is rather beautiful, and features a large share of houses and buildings many centuries old.
A rather beautiful old barn.
Just one of many houses in Askham that are many centuries. It kinda blows my mind that this house was built before the founding of the United States of America.
The woods underneath Lowther Castle contains a variety of rather unusual looking trees.