…………….From the Odd Box

Borrowdale……the Jewel in the Lake District Crown

The Miners Cart Track, Borrowdale, Cumbria

Borrowdale is for me the most beautiful Valley in the English Lake District.  At one end you have the majestic island dotted Derwent Water surely the most evocative of all the lakes.  At the head of the valley you have high crags of Glaramara backed up by the even great peak of Great Gable.  Between you have wooded slopes of ancient Oak and Pines clinging to steep screen slopes down which waterfalls such as Lodore tumble in in dry weather. Villages with names like Rosthwaite, Seatoller and the more  simply named Grange with its stone bridge and Slate Church.

So todays image (above), may surprise many who know the area, as they would perhaps be expecting a more dramatic view of the place mentioned  and I can understand why. But for me this walk through one of the flatter areas of Borrowdale captures more of the real Borrowdale spirit.

We are walking along the old Miners track.  To the right the fells slowly rise over bracken, through the woods to the heights of Cat Bells. To the left is the open flood plain of the River Derwent where is enters the Lake….and with Grange reputedly the wettest place in England that flood plain is much needed.  If we keep on walking we will climb to the old Slate Quarries and Graphite Mines, if we retrace our steps we will find areas where wood was coppiced and Charcoal was burnt.

All around us are farms and the Sheep of the Lakeland fells, the Herdwick.

On a peaceful, sunny day it is hard to imagine the industrial activity that this once important valley supported

……..Yet somehow you can still hear the clip clop of the ponies as they pull their laden carts and the puffing and chattering of the miners on their long trek to and from work…..more likely than not in less clement weather….., after all it is the wettest place in England!.

( “THE ODD BOX”. The Odd Box , is especially for Odds and Ends, it is the file where I drop those images, that I have not processed earlier in the year as part of a series or project or simply lacked time at that moment, where they can be safely stored. I can then go back to them at leisure, explore and see what surprises await)

17th January

(C) David Oakes 2015