Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.: November 2016

Mirror-like reflections on Thirlmere.

And so on to my last day in the Lakes and I was hoping to get some Thirlmere reflections on my return home. The top end of the Lake had no calmness in it at all which I thought was strange as it was a very still day. As I approached the Dunmail Raise end of the lake my jaw dropped as I was greeted by the most perfect reflections I can ever recall seeing. From past experience, I knew that lakes can turn from mirror-like to choppy in a matter of minutes so I made a bee-line for the carpark at Steel End, grabbed my camera out of the boot and headed straight down to the lake. A few people I passed on the way commneted on how perfect the reflections were and they certainly weren't wrong.

I have added the best of my photos, both of the lake and the surrounding area.

Woodland at Wythburn

Coomb Gill and Nethermost Pike

Birkside

Thirlmere

Coomb Gill and Nethermost Pike

Thirlmere

Coomb Gill and Nethermost Pike

Ice on rocks

Thirlmere

Coomb Gill and Nethermost Pike

Dew on grasses

Frosty grasses

Wythburn woods

Wythburn

Coomb Gill and Nethermost Pike

Returning for those Grasmere Reflections.

A return to Grasmere and the reflections seemed almost perfect. I even managed to find one of the few free parking spots on the A591 which was a bonus. Rydal Water, Grasmere and to a lesser extent Thirlmere can often be counted on for being perfectly still but today, Thirlmere was back to it's normal self with Grasmere like a mirror.

I'll let the photos do the talking for me.

Red Bank Wood, Grasmere

Frosty shoreline

Red Bank Wood

Silver How reflection

Grasmere Jetty

Red Bank Woods

Grasmere

Grasmere towards Dunmail Raise

Seat Sandal

Silver How

Grasmere

Silver How

Windermere sunrise, Thirlmere reflections and Borrowdale

I spent three great days in The Lakes last week, with clear blue skies every day. Not very good for photography as the shadows are too long and the light is too harsh but its always nice to feel a bit of warmth on your back at this time of year. I'll take conditions like this in the Lakes any day of the week.

My first day started off early, leaving home about 06:00 am as I was hoping for a good sunrise. However, the further west I travelled, the less cloud there was so by the time I had reached Windermere, there was very little left. I still got some good light on The Fairfield Horseshoe but the sun dipped in to some cloud for the next hour so the shots I was hoping to get of The Langdale Fells never came to fruition.

By the time I reached Grasmere it was back to clear skies with not a trace of a breeze so the reflections were perfect but I couldn't get parked up except in the extortionately priced White Moss car park. I didn't really want to pay for a couple of hours parking so I left that for another day. Then it was on to Thirlmere.

There again, the reflections were to die for but its a very frustrating lake with no parking places until you get up to the Helvellyn car parks. There are plenty of the other side of the lake but they weren't much good to me because of the light and views. I still managed to get some good shots with the zoom lens though.

A bit of breakfast in Keswick was followed by a drive up to Ashness Bridge and Surprise View, where again I was hampered by the position of the sun which was situated in such a position at Ashness Bridge that my shadow appeared in just about every shot. Also, at Surprise View, it was very hard to get the exposure right due to one half of the view being in full sun and the other half in shade but I managed to salvage a shot thanks to Adobe! One of the benefits of always shooting in RAW mode.

My early start was beginning to catch up with me so I spent most of the afternoon relaxing in my caravan. A trip in to Keswick for a pint and a look at the Christmas light ended a perfect day.