A whole gaggle of OFC members and dogs met at Glen Mary Bridge near Yew Tree Farm, Coniston. Quite why I had camera shake at this point I don't know!
Off up the path headed towards Tarn Hows
The first of the waterfalls
viewing the second, higher waterfall
Impressive - but I wish I had a wider angle lens to capture the whole of it.
After a few minutes we reached Tarn Hows. Time to take off some clothing and take a few photos
A family of greylag geese - the young ones are nearly as big as their parents. The greylag is the ancestor of the (larger) common white farmyard goose.
Timmy, Harry, Polly and Bethan enjoy a plunge but this did not worry the geese
In fact geese from all over the lake converged on us!
Tarn Hows looking into the sun
Our first minor peak of the day, Black Fell, is at the far end of the Tarn Hows
leaving the enclosure around Tarn Hows and heading for Iron Keld plantation
entering Iron Keld plantation - lots of felling and tree fall in recent years have left this much more open than before
looking over Iron Keld plantation (what is left of it) towards the Coniston Fells
Roger admires the skyline from Bowfell on the left to the Langdale Pikes on the right
Zooming in on the Langdale Pikes
the first five reach the summit of Black Fell
Esthwaite Water and Hawkshead from Black Fell
Nigel with a stunted larch and the Langdale Pikes in the distance
Low Arnside Farm - a real bit of old Lakeland
David Hall checks out a ruined building
Low Oxon Fell - about as idyllic as it gets on a day like this
What a superb setting - although it must be tempting to creep out in the middle of the night with a chain saw and fell a few trees!
High Oxon Fell - one of Lakeland's prettiest farms
Ann approaching High Oxon Fell farmyard
Even the cow sheds are adorned with hanging baskets!
The big cave at Hodge Close quarry
we stopped here for lunch
looking down on the cave from the lip of the quarry
looking the full length of the pool towards the twin entrances of the cave
You'll need superb eyesight to spot the rock climbers who are just about bang in the centre of this picture doing a climb above the pool
this is the climbers on a long zoom. The leader is just setting off, his second is belaying him at the start and another climber soaks up the sun. The rock faces have permanent bolts used to provide climbing protection
the old reservoir above Hodge Close
To the left, Ivy Crag. To the right, the main summit of Holme Fell
zooming in on the Langdale Pikes
looking down on the old reservoir
Ivy Crag summit
Jill B heading for the main summit of Holme Fell
Coniston Water from Holme Fell summit
I never worked out for certain if this was the Scafell range or Crinkle Crags
Dropping down to Yew Tree Tarn
The tea garden at Yew Tree Farm where we had afternoon tea - very nice!
Yew Tree Farmhouse. Owned by the National Trust and let to tenants who farm it and run the tea shop. It was taken over and "converted" to become "Hilltop" in the feature film "Miss Potter" a few years ago - the inevitable group of Japanese tourists arrived as we left.
superb!
The famous Yew Tree Farm "spinning gallery". These were common at one time in the Lakes but were probably NOT used by the farm women to do their spinning. More likely washed fleeces were draped over the balcony to show potential buyers that fleeces were ready for sale.
The beck as it passes in front of YewTree farm
a muscovy duck - from Yew Tree Farm it was just a 200 yard walk back to the carpark at Glen Mary Bridge.
