The three things a dog needs is food, somewhere to sleep and
a walk each day.
Today the weather has swung back to bright sunshine after two
dull days, so today's walk for them was as bright as it gets.
The phone camera sometimes over emphasises colour, but today
it was true to life.
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There's nothing better to start the day than
an early morning dip and a nice breakfast,
so my leisurely morning started in a perfect
way . . .
Okay . . . I didn't say a cold dip in the lake
did I ?
A nice morning deserves a quiet break on occasions
. . . just to sit and enjoy the view from the garden.
It's Easter Saturday and the crowds are out,
taking advantage of the good weather.
The farmer of the neighbouring field has opened
it up as a short term car park.
Put your money in the bucket please !
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On with the walk . . .
Low Park Bridge was checked last year and found
to be basically okay, but the parapet walls were not in good
condition
so the council workmen have been repairing them
recently.
I think it has turned out to be a bigger job
than they expected.
Full marks for keeping the road open, albeit
for just half a dozen or so houses on this side of Park Beck.
Make that seven . . . I forgot Mellbreak Cottage,
with it's lovely view of Grasmoor across the valley.
The path rises up the slope beneath Mellbreak
to the highest point of this walk, where you get a great view
overlooking Crummock Water.
From here you can see all the way up the Buttermere
Valley to Fleetwith and Great Gable at the far end.
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Glancing
back at Sandy Yat beach and the green fields of Peel
headland. |
Crossing a small Mellbreak
stream that has cut into the screes below. |
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The ground
here has also been disturbed, as if ripped up by force. |
This is thought to be
the actions of badgers looking for worms ! |
Doing that on nice sheep fields won't endear
them to the local farming community !
I'm a sucker for a nice tree as a foreground
to a picture.
The dogs wait by another old Hawthorn, on our
way across towards the headland of Low Ling Crag.
The rocky outcrop to the right of the tree is
High Ling Crag
and both align physically and geologically with
Rannerdale Knotts on the other side of the lake.
Rather than take the main path, I walk down
to the water's edge and walk around the stoney shoreline.
A camera-based panorama looking south whilst
standing on the top of Low Ling Crag headland.
Not crowded for a Bank Holiday ?
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Dougal has
managed to find a ball on the beach, so I throw it .
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. . . and he enjoys
his other passion of swimming. |
Time to head back and do a little late afternoon
gardening I think.
Looking this way the view is now of Low fell
and Brackenthwaite Hows (Scale Hill) with the trees.
It's that tree again !
The Iron Stone sits some twenty feet out into
the lake.
There are plans to remove the Crummock weir
and drop the level of the lake five feet or so, now it is no
longer used for drinking water.
If that goes ahead this rock will be sitting
on a dry pebble beach in five years time.
More about that topic in due course, no doubt.
I'm not looking forward to the disruption and
change that this plan will bring.
The dogs and I stay on the lower path on the
way back
and head over to Sandy Yat beach, the other
side of the gate.
One of my favourite view of the lake,
which made it into the Loweswatercam Calendar
a few years back.
The Yat of Sandy Yat beach.
'Yat' is Cumbrian for gate . . . so 'sandy'
must be Cumbrian for pebbles ?
An old Oak Tree on the way back up the Water
Board track, from the lake towards home.
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As a post-script, the guys down at the bridge
have finished their work in the last few days.
The extent of the rebuild can be seen from the
different colours of the cement . . . quite a major job in the
end.