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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Loughrigg, Lake District, Autumn
There are several Wainwrights that are considered key or “core” Wainwrights.
There are several Wainwrights—that is, Lake District peaks written about in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells—that are considered key or “core” Wainwrights.
They include the likes of Catbells, Helvellyn, Scafell Pike, and the Old Man of Coniston.
You could also argue that Loughrigg Fell should be included as a core Wainwright, too. And in all my years of living in Cumbria I’ve never once been up this relatively small yet sprawling fell.
So, at 5:00am this morning, we changed that.
Loughrigg Fell, or just Loughrigg, is one of the smaller Lake District fells, measuring only 335 m or 1,099 ft (compare this to England’s highest peak, Scafell Pike, coming in at 978 m/3,209 ft). However, its mass covers a surprisingly large area near Central Lakeland. To its north are two lakes: Grasmere and Rydal Water. To its west the fell overlooks Loughrigg Tarn followed by Elter Water. East, the River Rothay runs through a shallow depression, and south of Loughrigg is England’s largest lake: Windermere.
Because the fell covers such a large area there are many ways to access its numerous crags and the summit. We arrived at a lay-by near the shore of Grasmere and set off for the fell at around 6:45am. We took the route through Penny Wood onto Grasmere “beach” and then up into Deerbolts Wood, before joining Red Bank and taking the steep pitched path up onto Loughrigg’s various nobbly crags.
The morning was clear and glorious, and we watched as the rising sun slowly lit up the various peaks you can make out from around the shoulders of Loughrigg, such as Wetherlam and the Langdale Pikes. By the time we hit the summit the sun had risen and was covering the rolling crags of Loughrigg in golden light.
What a cracking morning.
All photos shot on a Fujifilm X-T2 with a XF 18–55mm f/2.8–4.0 lens using a customised Classic Chrome film profile.
Looking back down the steep pitched path that was our route up to the summit of Loughrigg. Silver How (395 m/1,296 ft) starts catching the soft pre-sunrise light.
Loughrigg features lots of lovely crags from which you can take your pick of compositions towards the distant fells. Here I pointed the camera towards the Langdale Pikes as they started to glow.
I find another or Loughrigg’s crags, surrounded by autumnal fern, which I use to point towards Wetherlam as it glows pink.
Higher up we can better make out the Langdale Pikes and Crinkle Crags (859 m/2,818 ft) as more of the land is bathed in warm sunrise light.
Another crag offers a framing and leading device for a composition towards Dunmail Raise, north of Grasmere village.
My lovely Lisabet takes a pew on some crag and enjoys the views as more of the fells light up in the sunrise glow.
A beautiful Herdwick yow (ewe) stares at us curiously with its smiling face. Behind her are the glowing slopes of Lingmoor Fell (469 m/1,539 ft).
The Rydal Fells, which ultimately lead up to Fairfield (873 m/2,864 ft).
Looking up the undulating folds towards the summit of Loughrigg, marked by a trigpoint.
I wanted to capture the criss-crossing and layering of the land as the sun rose over the fells.
Looking back at the route up to the summit of Loughrigg. In the distance is Grasmere village and the fells north of it: Helm Crag, Steel Fell, and Seat Sandal.
From the summit of Loughrigg you can finally make out some of Windermere lake.
From the summit you can enjoy a clear view of Wetherlam (763 m/2,502 ft), which I shot from the summit’s crags.
Probably my favourite photo from the whole hike.
Another ewe enjoys the views from one of Loughrigg’s crags.
The rolling craggy landscape of Loughrigg as the walking trails meander towards Windermere.
Lisabet inches closer for a better snap of the ewe and her lamb.
Incredible views from Loughrigg towards Elter Water and Wetherlam above.
Up in the Lakeland Fells autumn has arrived as the fern on the fell slopes turn a beautiful rusty colour.
A lone Herdwick ewe munches on the bracken in a steep gully below the rolling crags of Loughrigg.
Near Loughrigg’s northeastern slopes you can find increasing evidence of quarrying. Here we found a deposit of slate, forming a little mound of its own.
Tracking the outcrops of rhyolite and basaltic andesite towards the Scandale fells.
Lisabet pauses to enjoy the views as we navigate our way down the slopes of Loughrigg.
Back onto the main path that circumnavigates Loughrigg, known as the Loughrigg Terraces, we find Rydal Cave. This is a man-made cave; created as consequence of quarrying slate for roofing material.
A pool has filled Rydal Cave, offering crisp reflections that I played around with.
We spotted teeny little fishes in the pool too! Couldn’t say what they were, though.
Back on the main path around Loughrigg and looking up at Ewe Crag.
Into the woods alongside the River Rothay we chanced upon a couple of Herons. One of them flew off almost immediately but this one, hunched up, stayed on its perch long enough for me to get this quick snap.
In Penny Wood we notice that Grasmere is offering some crisp reflections of Silver How, which clamber down to get shots of.
All in all a 10/10 morning.