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This was very close to the summit of the fell, but the shot below was more typical of what we encountered on the way up. I was astonished to see some of the more rugged types tackling this trail on mountain bikes, with mixed success.
Some might wonder, what is a fell? According to Webster's, a fell is "a high barren field or moor" (moor being "an expanse of open rolling infertile land", again credit to Webster's). I took to saying that it's a large barren hill, not quite a mountain.
The thought occurred to me, "Hey, why not nestle the sheep right into the notch carved out of the stone wall." They're the ones who made it, right?
Focus shifted in the shot below:
This guy
caught Andrew's eye and I jumped on the chance to snap a few. He
looks as though he's peacefully contemplating life while looking out
over the valley below...
Lots of stone walls in various configurations in the coming posts. They give such a rustic, earthy feel to a place which makes it seem as though you've stepped back in time.
Not all were done like this, but one style evidently was to point the top ridge of rocks straight up. Suppose this might discourage some of the sheep-jumping mentioned in yesterday's post...
One of the things I was hoping to capture was the network of stone walls that crisscross the region. Because they are made of rock, which conveys permanence, it's easy to assume that they've been here for a very long time. That's why we were surprised to learn that the lifespan of these walls is no more than about 40 years if they're not diligently maintained...due mostly because there is no mortar holding the rocks together. Also it turns out that they don't contain sheep very well; the broken-down parts are where they hop or climb over, knocking some of the rocks out of place as they cross.
Closer shot of the house below, where you can see the gaps a little better (click to enlarge), as well as one wall that has almost completed tumbled down over time:
As stated in the introduction to this series, this part of England is all about walking, and we came here so that we could take some of the walks together and take lots of pictures. The family bought me a good pair of walking sticks before the trip, and after arriving we went to one of the many walking stores (yes, retail outlets geared specifically to the walking industry) to buy a good pair of walking shoes.
And Andrew was right...the vistas in this peaceful, rural part of the country are tremendous, and every time you turn your head there's something else to take a picture of. And - as happened in Alaska - we were blessed with awesome weather most days, even when it was forecast to be miserable.
This waterfall was to our left at the beginning of the trail. I do lots of bracketing for these kinds of shots, and this one was handheld at a tenth of a second, with the darkest exposure being chosen. Had to be careful, though; with only 15% of battery life rationed for the day I couldn't afford to get too carried away.
Before embarking on this walk the locals told us that
this was one of the better trails because of the variety, and they were
sure right, as we experienced waterfalls, roadways through the woods
and out in the open, pathways through the woods and out in the open, a
steep climb up a large fell, over the felltop, and a gentler path back
down to Ambleside through a picturesque little village (Troutbeck). Just right for our purposes with the time that we had.
So that's it for what turned out to be a highlight of the trip for me. Time was getting by, so very soon after this was captured we headed to Andrew's highlight of the trip...6:00 reservations at the Michelin-starred Black Swan in Oldstead, the 2017 Best Restaurant in the World! (according to Trip Advisor)
Similar to the first Byland Abbey pic posted, but with rainbow in place after we discovered it was there. By this time clouds had obscured the sun so it wasn't full-on, which made the colors a little softer...even more natural if you will. As in other pics featuring the rainbow, the colors were enhanced after it was assigned a layer of its own.
