Today’s guest picture comes from our son Tony. He sent me this gorgeous shot of the sun rising over East Wemyss this morning. (I suspect that he may have run the image through the filter on his phone.)
We had a sunny day here too and Mrs Tootlepedal thought that it would be a good day for an excursion with a nice walk in it. I agreed and we set off to visit Buttermere, one of the small lakes in the Lake District. It has a good, mainly flat six mile path round it which we have walked before and which we thought would be a suitable test for our feet.
The perfect sunny October outing turned out to be slightly less than perfect in two ways. The weather let us down a little and as we got into England, it started to rain. Although the rain had finally stopped by the time we got to Buttermere, the busy weekend tourist traffic hadn’t and Buttermere’s car parks turned out to be so full to bursting that there was no room for one more car, not even a small one.
We were a bit at a loss but in the end, we turned back the way we had come and found a place to park beside Crummock Water, another lake a mile or two away, This was a delightful spot and the clouds broke up as we got there.
Crummock water is not completely surrounded by hills…
…but there are plenty of hills to look at. They are popular with walkers and we could see a track running up the little rocky valley behind us.
I walked up the hill behind the car park and soon got good views of the lake….
…and I took a panorama of as much of the Lake as I could see. There was a smir of rain falling at the south end.
I walked up a handy little path beside a small gill that was tumbling down the hillside….
…and enjoyed several little cascades.
I would have liked to go a little further up the hill but the ground was very rough and when I looked back down the hill, I could see Mrs Tootlepedal coming towards me.
I was glad that I had not gone any higher as I stumbled back down the hill to meet her. Going up is still not too bad these days but going down rough and steep ground is murder on the knees.
The Lake District hills are not big hills but they are often very dramatic and I took a last view south…
…and went past this local sheep looking for a blade of grass among the bracken…
…before meeting up with Mrs Tootlepedal and going back to the car.
We decided to cut our losses and head for somewhere to eat and then go home.
The roads here are very narrow and there was plenty of motor traffic, many cyclists and some brave pedestrians to share the roads with so progress was slow as we went [past Loweswater and headed for a wider road.
We stopped when we found a moment for a last look back at the hills…
…and found a suitable cafe at a garden centre near Cockermouth.
The cafe was bright and cheerful but rather quiet as a gas explosion had closed a busy road nearby and caused congestion in the town. This had reduced their custom and we got served very promptly as a result.
The garden centre was attached to a fine house but the plant area was surrounded by tall trees and rather gloomy.
It is the end of the season too and nothing caught Mrs Tootlepedal’s eye, not even the things on the ‘reduced to clear’ stand, so we were soon on our way home.
We got home safely though there was more rain on the way. We were just on the edge of the shower and as a result we drove along under a spectacular rainbow for several miles.
It was sunny in Langholm all day so after a cup of tea, we set out to make up for some of the walking that we had missed in the Lake District by strolling round the Becks Burn walk.
Mrs Tootlepedal pointed out a chrysalis on the outside of our kitchen window as we left the house.
We may not have the mountains and picturesque hills of the Lake District, but it is no hardship to walk through the countryside round Langholm on a sunny evening.
When we looked down at the Auld Stane Brig, it does seem that many trees are going to lose their leaves without showing any colour this year.
I noticed that the winter jasmine at our back door has come out, a sign of the times.
All in all, although it wasn’t quite the outing that we had planned, it wasn’t a bad day. It is always a pleasure to visit the Lake District, even if we didn’t stay long. We did about 120 miles in the Zoe and still had at least 40 reliable miles left in the battery so that gave us some confidence in how far we could drive without having to charge the car. And we had an enjoyable walk in the end too.
The flying bird of the day is a chicken pretending to be a sheep.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Lucky you weather-wise! I drove from Somerset to Berkshire yesterday in torrential rain, it’s been raining all day today in Berkshire, and heavy rain is forecast for my return journey tomorrow. At least I shan’t have the sun in my eyes, as often happens when I make this journey back along the A303…
We had no trouble with the sun in our eyes on our drive to Carlisle today!
It’s always nice to see cloud shadows on hills, and waterfalls too.
The panorama is excellent. I don’t know why I never think to do that.
I hope the winter jasmine is a few months early. Too bad that some of the trees aren’t going to show any color. I thought that might happen here for a while.
I have to use the panorama from time to time as I don’t have a wide angled lens.
You made it a good day out despite setbacks.
The Lake District looks like a nice place to visit and walk. I agree, downhill is harder. Always was for me, even in my youth when I was a runner.
Winter Jasmine? I looked it up as I am not familiar with it. I agree with NewHampshire. I hope yours is just blooming early.
With regards to the Jasmine, we hope so too. In my hill running days, I was always better at coming down than going up.
Lovely views round Crummock Water. Wished I was there. Your car did well, even if it could not be squeezed into a parking space.
My sister has said it all!
A splendid photographic record of hill walking. Soon after my second knee replacement we visited a garden with a long downward approach slope. I could barely make it, and even then had to place my hands on Jackie’s shoulders. Going up would have been more manageable, but the owners opened the gates so that Mrs K could bring the car down for me.
That was very good of them.
Indeed
Beautiful rolling hills, looks like the day worked out just fine for a nature walk, YAY!
Not quite the distance that we hoped for but lots of scenery .
A lovely day with suitable surprises. One can’t get enough of little cascading gills…I must remember to use that word! You are very fortunate to be situated so near to all those great places in the Lake District – the photos were wonderful.
We will return but not at a weekend!
some beautiful views there TP – thank you for sharing. Glad to hear about the distance in your e-car.
Considering that it the cheapest on the market, we are quite pleased to get so far.
Some lovely photos – you are having better weather than we are. I can’t believe the Lake District is drier than Nottingham. Good to hear the car is working well and the batteries are giving plenty of range.
It has been a good buy so far. I just hope that it proves to be durable and reliable.
Fingers crossed. 🙂 Though I don’t suppose they’d want to risk producing a bad car at this point.
It’s a shame that so many lovely places have become so crowded with tourists that it’s a struggle just to park. Of course, it makes coming home even nicer.
I wouldn’t like to live there. Your life wouldn’t be your own.
Oh, that Zoe! What a little champ. Glad your day turned out well even though you couldn’t find a place to park.
Beautiful views of the Lake District, Tom. And I wonder what kind of butterfly or moth will emerge from the chrysalis. Is it too late in the year for it to hatch out?
I am a complete chrysalis ignoramus so I can’t answer your interesting question, Sue.
Our winter-flowering jasmine is in flower, too. I would have said that it usually begins flowering at about this time of year.
I can imagine you both tutting and raising your eyebrows when you discovered it had been sunny all day in Langholm! You found some beautiful views to photograph in the Lakes and the clouds added a little drama to the pictures. I like the chicken-sheep!
I’ll have to look back at my records to see about the winter jasmine.