Although a regular visitor to the Lake District, the one lake that I seldom visit is Windermere. Windermere is where the unadventurous go, seeking out cake shops, boating trips or Beatrix Potter-themed attractions. The countryside surrounding the vast lake is attractive enough, in a benign way, but the spirit of the lakes lies to theRead More
Next up in the reviews of my year is a year in the Lake District. It wasn’t a year as such, but it was five weeks, over three holiday periods, the longest I have spent over twelve months in a part of the country that means a lot to me. Below are favourite photos thatRead More
Walking along some fellside path in the Lake District, grey skies and a gentle drizzle, suddenly I am able to fly upwards. Hovering high above the hills, fields and waters, I can see the lattice-work of tracks, paths and roads that intersect across the land. With this map-like view of the terrain I view acrossRead More
I have many favourite spots in the Lake District, but one stands out above the rest. I treasure Borrowdale, of course; the circuits to be made of Derwentwater, Loweswater and Buttermere; the gentle St John’s in the Vale; the secret lands to the north of Skiddaw (Back’o’Skiddaw); and beautiful Grisedale, which greets climbers descending fromRead More
In a world of websites, databases, digital archives offering every kind of information, and every manner of finding such information, why do I cherish some printed reference works? In part it is familiarity – there are works that have sat on my shelves for many years, old friends, reassuring to see, pleasing to handle. InRead More
If you visit the Lake District, there is one name in particular that is both omnipresent and yet almost completely invisible. There is much that promotes, celebrates or otherwise exploits the names of Wordsworth, Potter, Coleridge, Wainwright, but what of Rawnsley? What visitor to the Lakes knows of him. Yet go the central town ofRead More
I was spending two weeks in the Lake District, and I wanted to seek out one of the lakes I had not seen before, despite having visited the area many times. Ennerdale Water is one of the least known and least visited of the lakes, owing to its remote location to the west of theRead More
So it was that I was walking along a woodland path, beside a lake, on a beautiful early autumn day when all of the world had decided to be elsewhere. A gap in the trees appeared, offering a fine view over the water – and there was a bench. It had someone’s name upon, carvedRead More
The Lake District is my home from home. I have been coming here for years, the first time on a family holiday when I was eight or so. I became entranced by the rugged beauty of the places, the clearness of the rivers, the colours and roundness of the stones, the single-word poems that wereRead More
The jazz singer and art lover George Melly was fond of telling a story about when he was confronted by some thugs with broken bottles outside a Manchester club. Running not being much of an option for the rotund Melly, and fighting or negotiating still less so, he chose instead to give a recitation ofRead More