Solitary Walking

Last week gave us some varied weather.

On Saturday I took advantage of a break in the rain to take Suki for a walk half way up Applethwaite Fell and along to the road. The views of Windermere were spectacular as the sun pierced the clouds and a rainbow framed the fells. (Note to self - take the camera next time!). What I really enjoyed though was the unusual experience of walking on my own, at my own pace with my own thoughts. It's a very different experience from walking with a group or with family. It's interesting that Wordsworth was wandering "lonely as a cloud" in "Daffodils". Your thoughts can just bear off wherever you want to let them and you notice all sorts of things that you don't have time to see whilst you are talking or making sure that children are keeping out of mischief.

How many different colours of rowan berry there are - some as deep red as blood and some as pale as your skin. How late the blackberries are still in fruit this year. How many rills there are falling down the fells. How quiet it is, even during half term and so close to Windermere.

I was enjoying it so much that I turned left on the road and walked up to the top path and returned along past Dubbs Reservoir where half a dozen swans were gliding silently along on the glassy water. Suki, being a water lover, had the time of her life chasing through the deep puddles that seemed to cover most of the top level path and which I had to negotiate with a little more care for fear of getting my feet soaked.

Coming down the path to Limefitt I had a beautiful view of Troutbeck in low cloud. The landscape seems to display a different facet in every different type of weather or light, and unlike some places it doesn't seem to becomes depressing in bad weather. I remember being in Greece and really hating the rain, whereas here is just seems to be a natural and beautiful part of what happens.

The nuthatches are back

The birds seem to have ignored the peanut feeder during the recent warm weather, but the nuthatches have made a welcome return. There was an article in the paper last week that described them as "Autumn's Highwaymen" - largely due to the Lone Ranger type "mask" that they have across their eyes. They take the best nuts and profligately chuck the rest onto the ground where the robins and sparrows hoover them up. It is always interesting to see them - with their unusual confederate blue grey plumage with their orange chests and the way that they can flit both up and down the feeder unlike any other birds we see. They are obviously first in the pecking order - as soon as they appear the other birds fly for the safety of the tree. The only ones that sometimes stand their ground are the green finches. They too are bigger than most birds that come to the feeder.

An osprey!

Sitting on our deck in the late afternoon I looked up and saw a large gull circling. It began to ride the thermals and I got the binoculars as I thought this was a bit "un-gull-like". The bird was larger than I had first realised and had a greyish white underside with black tips on its wings. I watched it until it got so high that I couldn't see it clearly even with full zoom on the binoculars. Looking in my bird book it could only have been an osprey, and this was confirmed by the RSPB page

Seen in flight from below the osprey has white or slightly mottled underparts. The long wings are angled, bending at the 'wrist' which has a black patch contrasting with the white wing linings, and at a distance it could be mistaken for a large gull. This spectacular fish-eating bird of prey is an Amber List species because of its historical decline (due to persecution), and low breeding numbers.

I wonder if this was one of the Bassenthwaite ospreys? http://www.ospreywatch.co.uk/index.htm

An autumn day above Ullswater

Sunday was a perfect Autumn day in Troutbeck, so we packed a picnic and bundled various kids and dogs into the cars and headed for Pooley Bridge an the North end of Ullswater. We parked by the bridge in the pay and display and walked up Heughscar to the stone circles. We picnicked by the cairn from where we had a fantastic view of Ullswater with all of the yachts darting to and fro. Halfway through lunch we were amazed to see a pack of hounds fly past on their own. Apparently they were hound trailing - this was the first time I had ever heard of this

From the web site http://www.trailhoundtrust.co.uk/faq.htm I found out that

"Hound trailing is a sport which takes place all over the Lake District between April and October. It dates back over 200 years. Individual owners get their hounds fit, then take them to race meetings, which are held most days throughout the summer. The hounds run a circular route of 10 miles (5 miles for 1st season puppies), over field and fell, following a strong aniseed and paraffin scent. "

(By the way - you can adopt a retired trail hound from this site.)

Walking on to the stone circles and High Street (the old Roman road) we made up ghoulish stories of human sacrifice to scare the kids (but with no real success).

Coming back down to Pooley Bridge via the limestone scar we had a view down the entire length of Ullswater - stunning!

One small person described this as "the best walk we have done so far". High praise indeed!