Walking From Glenridding to Howtown, Ullswater, Lake District

Last Friday I returned from a lovely week's holiday at the lake Ullswater in the Lake District. We stayed in a charming old cottage with stunning gardens which I will be blogging about next. Today I would like to share our first and longest walk of the holiday.

Ullswater is the second largest of the Lakeland's lakes and meres, and arguably the most beautiful of the English lakes. It is often compared to Switzerland's Lake Lucerne. It is a "narrow ribbon lake" formed as glaciers gouged out the valley floor during the last Ice Age.

When you look at a visitor map of Ullswater one of the first things you notice is that there are steamer trips spanning the length of the lake with three stops. You can have a ride the full length of the route or you can hop on and off at the three piers. Of course, going on the steamer was a must, and we opted to go on a linear walk between two of the stops -  Glenridding and Howtown and then take the steamer back. It was a 7 mile walk, mainly on an undulating, sometimes rather steep and rocky path.

I took this from the road near Glenridding pier at the start of our walk. It is a common Lakes scene, but too beautiful to take for granted.

Another typical, delightful Lake District view: one or two white houses nestling at the bottom of a mountain with the lake in the foreground.

We soon got onto a track leading to a farm.....

........and the views all around us were wonderful.

The charming Side Farm. Loved the pink flowers behind the dry stone wall. We passed through its stable yard where there was an inviting tea room, but we didn't stop - there were still quite a few miles of walk ahead of us.

We continued along this track for quite a while. No, we didn't climb the ladders to go over the wall, I just liked the way they looked in the setting, and the light.

There were many breathtaking views of the lake and its islands from the path to the left.

The combination of moss and dry stone wall always catches my eye.

At times the lake would disappear from the view, but the landscape remained very beautiful......

There was a lot of cloud about, and the light was constantly changing from sunny to moody. It was pretty much my favourite sort of day for photography.

I liked the frame with a mixture of scattered isles and rowing boats on the lake surface.....

........and then one with a Lakeland Herdwick sheep in the foreground and the Ullswater steamer in the distance...

As we were now descending to the lakeshore the sun came out fully, and I was regaled to this lovely pastoral scene. Just love the sheep. light, colours and the background here.

Couldn't resist a little play with my Jessica Drossin textures on this one.

The perspective, vegetation and whole scenery was changing as the path was getting flatter .....

.......and we finally reached the water's edge. My loyal friend Liz can be seen on the very right in the turquoise top waiting for me (yet again) to take that "perfect" shot.

After a quick rest and a very welcome refreshment at the nearby pub at Howtown we boarded the steamer at Howtown jetty and were on our way back to Glenridding.

It was so very windy and draughty on the ferry, and cold too as temperatures were generally way too low for August, that my camera very soon got put away. I'd planned on taking pics throughout the half an hour cruise, but this shot of the boathouse with some mellow light on the hillside behind was the last one I took on the outing.

We arrived at Glenridding weary, windblown and and in need of something invigorating, so we decided to head straight away for the comfort of the lovely cottage we were staying at. We had a great day - a very good and satisfying start to our holiday.