Four Days and Four Seasons in the Lakes

Thought I would take a quick look back at a recent, spur of the moment trip to the Lakes. In the four days we were in the area, we experienced every type of weather you can imagine. The colours of autumn were in full swing and it was an unfortunate run of luck that we had persistent heavy rain for most of the first two days. With little light to speak of during this time, we decided to explore several waterfalls that had been on the wish list to visit for some time. The large amount of rain in the area was visible to see with the sheer volume of water flowing through the falls.

One of our first stops was in the town of Ambleside. Ive visited this part of Cumbria several times, but forgot quite how nice this town was. A short walk from the town centre is a series of waterfalls known as Stock Ghyll Force. The autumn colours in this area were something special!

The following day, whilst attempting to dodge the many showers around, we took a trip to Ashness Bridge. A pretty popular spot for visitors to the area, but on this occasion I felt the river was flowing at too fast a speed to really capture the images I had hoped. The volume of water didn’t quite provide the shapes and movement through the falls, but again the autumn leaves were a real sight.

Right at the end of our second day of heavy rain, we took a risk and made the trip over to Wast Water. One of my favourite spots in the Lakes and can sometimes be a little quieter than other areas, due to journey time to reach it. As we arrived, I scoped out the location and before long we were treated to one of the most spectacular scenes I have seen for a long time. A rainbow spanning the whole width of the lake and framing perfectly the mountain range beyond. An evening I will definitely not forget!

On our third day we explored Buttermere to Borrowdale and we were blessed with a more attractive day of light. I ticked off a bucket list location with the Old Mill near Seatoller and spent most of the day exploring away from there with a 70-200mm and the surround hills.

On our final day before heading home after sunset, we parked just outside of Keswick and climbed to the top of one of the surrounding hills, Catbells. With a hope of capturing sunset across Derwentwater, we didn’t quite get what we had initially planned for, but were treated to some of the most epic light across the neighbouring Newlands Valley. A light I always think of when I think of the Lakes, sunbeams bursting through the clouds across sweeping valleys. Away from there, we were also treated to another rainbow from Catbells.

A real mixed bag of weather and light conditions, but its only given me more of a desire to return and explore some more as soon as I can. Hopefully next time with some snow!

See more from the Lake District HERE.