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.