A walk around Ennerdale Water

July 20, 2019July 17, 2019 ~ suesconsideredtrifles ~ 4 Comments

When we decided to go walking in Ennerdale our original plan was a walk, a picnic, a walk back and a visit to an art exhibition at The Gather at Ennerdale Bridge.

What actually happened was a leisurely walk with lots of stops to take photos, a picnic, a decision to continue all around the lake, an accidental fall, arriving back at the car park after The Gather had closed. Oh, and a chat with a dog-walker, which resulted in a possible attendance at a social event in the autumn. This time it was my turn to fall. I tripped because I was looking sideways at the scenery and missed a hazard on the path. Fortunately I could walk the last few hundred yards to the car park. Note to self: look where you are going!

Tall trees

Smithy Beck Waterfall

Silver Birch

Speckled Wood butterfly

View from picnic spot

Another lunchtime view

View between the trees

It was the first time we had walked all the way round the lake. It is the sort of walk, where it is possible to see more or less how far there still is to go and how far to go back. There were two points at which going on seemed hazardous, but going back was too far. At Angler’s Crag the path is steep with loose stones and there is a steep rocky outcrop to climb down (or up if going the opposite way, although if we do this again, we’ll find a higher route). At the weir engineering work was in progress. It occurred to us that if the heavy machinery broke the bridge, we would have a long way to go back! Of course the work had been well-planned and the bridge was still there for us to cross.

View across river and lake

Beech trees

From the head of the lake

Across to where we had been

Looking ahead

Sunlight on a fell

Rosebay willowherb

Angler’s crag across the water

Recovering from a wildfire

July 6, 2019July 3, 2019 ~ suesconsideredtrifles ~ 2 Comments

In the summer of 2018 there were fires in various parts of England due partly to the dry weather. The fire on St Bees Head began on the evening of 12^th June. It took days to extinguish it, partly because it reignited and the fire brigade had to return. The fire-fighters worked very hard wearing their protective clothing in very hot weather. There was co-operation between lots of different people locally to allow them access and to keep them as comfortable as possible. This post is primarily about the area about a year later.

Smoke at sunset

Smoky

Next morning (wind direction changed)

In the afternoon

Nearest point by road

Smoke and clouds

St Bees Head is on the Coast to Coast walk; the first part of the path had to be closed for safety reasons. It is also home to an RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reserve. The fire-fighters managed to contain the fire so that it did not spread to that area. The cliffs, where the fire was, were covered in grass, bracken, gorse, brambles and other plants and were home to small mammals, ground-nesting birds, some rare spiders and other invertebrates. About a month after the fire the smell of the ash was still very strong.

Just over a year after the fire I took photos of the area on a walk up the path mentioned above. The gorse bushes are charred and blanched. Various grasses, bracken and other wild plants are growing. Kidney vetch is colonising the cliffs lower down (only visible from below.) From a distance there are still dark patches on the cliffs.