Stopped off in the Far Eastern Lakes on an extended route back from Newcastle having stopped at Hadrian’s Wall first near Haltwhistle (pictures from there and the stay in Newcastle will follow).

This is the area from the end of Haweswater Reservoir – Initially a smaller natural lake, Mardale valley was dammed and flooded in 1935, submerging the village of Mardale Green – parts can occasionally be seen when the reservoir water is low – there is a road alongside the reservoir that ends at a carpark at Mardale Head – from here there are a number of paths for the surrounding fells Harter Fell, Mardale Ill Bell and the High Street (part of a Roman road) [Wikipedia page]

My family used to holiday up here – probably Easter holidays or around May Day half-term – staying in a barn conversion in nearby Rosgill – this would have been late 70’s – apart from a few trips through the Lakes or the M6 going past, I have not been back since. As I now live in the Cotswolds (the area is great…nice walks, but none of the drama seen here!) – I have longed to come back for a while.

This was, however, a brief stop, but has certainly whetted my appetite for more!

Concious that I had the drive back home (West Oxfordshire), I knew this would be time limited – I arrived at Mardale Head carpark at around 17:00 and set off on the path up to Nan Bield Pass – while there were around eight cars in the carpark, I saw no-one…in fact, while walking, I passed no-one…bliss! I have not expected it to be quite this quiet…but this was a Tuesday afternoon…I guess things would be busier at the weekend.

I climbed on the path from the carpark – the path wasn’t too bad…certainly better than I remembered, but it is reasonably steep in places (for someone accustomed to the Cotswolds) – certainly it got the heart rate up a bit!

After crossing a stile and a gate, there were some water falls (pictures to follow) as Small Water Beck flowed alongside the path – in time I came to Small Water.

I paused here for a few minutes to take a few pictures before following the path around Small Water and continuing to ascend towards Nan Bield Pass.

In the end, because of time concerns, I did not get all the way to Nan Bield Pass which had been my intention – perhaps another 20 minutes would have done it (the path gets quite steep above Small Water) – so I turned back, but before I did so took the main photograph from that point (left most red circle on the map) looking back over Small Water towards Mardale Common – you can just see a small part of Haweswater in the distance.

As mentioned earlier, a very short stop…but makes me want to return…and soon!

Main image – Fuji X-A5 with an XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4.0 OIS lens – 18mm; f/5; 1/125s – handheld – Edited in Lightroom 6.3

Small Water – Fuji X-A5 with an XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4.0 OIS lens – 18mm; f/16; 1/400s – handheld – Edited in Lightroom 6.3

#2022 #UK #LakeDistrict #SmallWater #Haweswater #MardaleHead #Landscape #Skyline