Winter in the Lakes.

The English Lake District in winter has to be one of the loveliest places to take your camera for a walk!



You have to be prepared for all weathers for sure, and a steady supply of hotel shower caps is particularly useful... not for me, I hasten to add, but for the camera!! With snow on the hills, ice on the lakes, low evening sun, mist, raging waterfalls and only a handful of other tourists, winter is a very good time to be there! Of course it did rain, and snow, and rain and snow again, but it's all good for keeping the lakes topped up and for bringing some drama into the skies.



Brought some drama into travelling round as well, but how dull things would be if they were always easy!

Of all the places I visited while there, the road from Keswick round via Buttermere and back to Keswick is the one I most want to go back and explore again. Oh, and more of Ullswater, and more of Ennerdale, and more of the Langdales, and the fort at Hardknott...



and Eskdale, and Wast Water, and... well, you get the picture!

I don't know about Hardknott, but those sheep up there are right hard nuts!!



Did you know that the Herdwick sheep will eat their own wool in the winter? They are real hardcase lil lambs!! Snow? Pah, they laugh in the face of snow! Winter? Bring it on!!

One of the unexpected, and maybe even slightly guilty pleasures of the Lakes (though I'm certainly not embarrassed to say I love trains!!) is found at the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway.



A narrow gauge railway trundles you along through the countryside between the high mountains of Eskdale and the coast at Ravenglass...



...or the other way about, whichever your preference! It is such a great wee thing, so well managed and lovingly maintained, it is truly delightful. I will certainly return to the Lake District as soon as there's a chance. I love it, whatever the weather!

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

A Wild Weekend!

Well, a fairly soggy Sunday actually but 'A Wild Weekend' makes for a more exciting headline, I think! Saturday was anything but wild. Just a day indoors sorting out washing and websites, that sort of thing. Sunday was play day though :-)

It started before dawn as I had to take John into work in Pitlochry. He started at 8am, sunrise was roughly 8.10-ish, so time to nip up onto Moulin Moor for some photos at poor old Mr Soutar's place.



Poor old Mr Soutar used to live in the cottage but died one snowy night back in the 1800's as he struggled to get to his door through a bitter and savage storm.



I hope he looks favourably on me being there now, because I love this place and somewhere in my heart feels at home here too. Well, the sun never showed his face but I stayed anyway and had a play with the morning clouds instead. Until it started snowing.



I left a bleak and desolate moor but I shall return again soon, probably with a torch and strong nerves to do some light painting and star trails or something similar. Next on the itinerary was a trip to the Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre in Comrie to meet my friends for a stroll and a roll.



The rolls weren't quite what we were expecting however! Firstly, the cafe was shut for refurbishment so, not to be too disheartened, we agreed to take the pooch for a walk round the hill first and see what we could see before bundling back into the car to head down to Comrie in search of refreshment. We would then come back to Auchingarrich to do the rest of the stroll.

Unfortunately my friend took the promise of 'rolls' a little too literally and promptly took two down the slippery and muddy slope of the big hill. Thankfully no bones were broken, though he did suffer quite a jolt, and thankfully his new camera and new 500mm lens also survived. A lens hood was broken, but as that was the worst of it, it wasn't too bad all things considered!

So, we arrived back to the car a little battered and bruised and very muddy, but the thought of a coffee shop in Comrie lifted our spirits. With good reason. I don't know what the coffee shop was called but it is in the main street and was the only one open so if you happen to be there on a Sunday, go on in. It's lovely!!



Refreshed and somewhat drier and cleaner, we made our way back to Auchingarrich for round 2 of our stroll. We didn't even make it into the car park before we made our first stop to try and photograph the Red Kites that were wheeling above the trees and the Herons that were poaching from the Stork's pond at the park entrance. We'd been there for quite some time when all of a sudden my pal let out a huge chuckle as he had spotted an albino wallaby that was watching us from the wooded hill behind. The expression on the wallaby's face was priceless! He was rooted to the spot for ages just watching us, seemingly wondering what on earth we were doing and maybe even why we hadn't bought him a roll back from the shop ;-)

Next we headed on down to the car park again and set off on the trail around the rest of the Wildlife Centre. Meerkats, Wild Cats, Polecats, and, erm... well, lots of other animals and birds too.



My favourite shot of the day?.. yes, the one that got away!! A group of visitors were walking over the crest of the small hill and were in a fairly tight line all looking down the hill. Towards the bottom of the hill, a tight line of geese all looking up at the visitors. It was a face-off and it was so comical, it had to be taken. Eye to the viewfinder, quickly compose the shot for maximum comedy interpretation and artistic merit, press the shutter button... nothing!!! Full card, aarghhh!!!! Quickly delete something off the card, camera back up to the eye... geese now all out of the shot. Hey ho. Wild weekend? Wild? I was absolutely livid, ha ha.

Note to self, when card is nearly full, change it, don't wait to fill it all the way up only to stop at the shot of the day!! Actually, I couldn't change it as my other card is now kaput and I haven't replaced it yet... another note to self, get some new cards!!!

So that was my weekend. Not exactly wild in a massive adventure kind of way, but wild enough in its own mild way ;-) So, thanks to my very good friends for a lovely day out and a ruffle on the head to my dog for being incredibly well-behaved on the walk round the Wildlife Centre. He's not often on the lead and doesn't like it overly much, but he coped admirably with all the sights and scents and all the little birds and animals around him. He never barked once, never tried to chase anything, and behaved impeccably. Anything for another jelly bean, lol.

Rebecca,x

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/
E-mail rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk