Weekend Walk

Églantine is away so our dog Calla and I went to wander. We saw a train by "Dundas Peak."



We watched some water flow through some rocks.



We were glad we were not here when these rocks fell off the peak.



We stopped to look closely at some False Solomon Seal berries.

Autumn Will Come

In spite of record breaking high temperatures here in southern Ontario, the leaves are turning colour as usual and some are dropping off already. Our Black Walnut (aka American Walnut, Noyer noir, Juglans nigra) trees are shedding leaflets and leaves quickly and the White Walnuts (aka Butternut, Noyer cendré, Juglans cinerea) is all but bare.

The Gray Dogwood (aka Red-panicle Dogwood, Cornouiller à grappes, Cornus racemosa) leaves have turned a deep, red-violet while the panicles are bright red setting off the white berries.



I tried taking a photo of some of our Morning Glories this morning. I thought the Maple trees in the background would set them off. My initial try demonstrated my need for a tripod for a clear photo. Then I looked at the photo again and decided it had artistic merit. Here it is:



Here is a second try with a tripod. I think it too has some merit. I look forward to getting more autumn colour shots in the next few weeks.

Wandering in the English Lake District - Day 6

Having been up before the sun every day, I was glad to finally be in a position to get a fairly good sunrise photo.



As I was watching the sky through my camera lens, I had the feeling that someone was watching me.



I was correct.

On this last day, the "harder walk" group was offered "an exhilarating ridge walk...the superb high level ridge...the geographical centre of the Coniston fells...one of the finest high level walks!" I am pleased to report that the walk lived up to its reputation. The bus dropped of our group just a few miles the other side of the village of Coniston and we started walking uphill. In the photo below you can see another of the many arched, stone bridges that we crossed during the week as well as the beginnings of our walk. We crossed the bridge to an area left of the photo and then re-entered the photo area on the ridge at the top and walked the length of the ridge before climbing the first of several peaks of the day.



The body of water in the foreground of the next photo was called a "blind tarn" as it was impossible to see until we were on the ridge well above it. The water in the background is Conistonwater with the village and HF house off the photo to the left.



Below is part of the group scrambling up the last few rocks to reach the first peak of the day.



From the peak we could see the next ridge leading up to our second peak, Coniston Old Man. Those antlike bumps on the ridge are some of the many people heading up the ridge to the peak.



Coniston Old Man (2633 feet) was the most crowded mountaintop that I have ever been on in my life. We did not stay long.



Below will be the last photo of the Wandering in the Lake District of England series. In this photo you can see the Irish Sea in the distance.



I think I promised earlier to talk about our dinners. You already know that we ate well for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was equally fine. Each evening, we had choices for the next evening meal. There were various options for the first course that always included a homemade soup, a salad dish, and usually several other options that I don't remember as I almost always had the soup. Second course was centred on a vegetarian dish, or fish, or meat of some kind. Items that I remember from during the week were options of beef, pork, lamb, trout, shark, codfish, and swordfish all with, of course, more exotic names. There were always three large dishes of vegetables to choose from on the table, one of which was potatoes in a variety of forms. Drinks, from the bar, were offered for sale while coffee and tea were always served with desserts. One also chose the dessert the evening before. Several kinds of ice cream were always available as well the fruit basket with a choice of cheeses or one could choose from a variety of pies and puddings. No one ever went away hungry unless they chose to do so.

This was my third walking holiday with HF and, I hope, not my last. I know a good number of other local Ontario hikers that have gone to hike with HF and have never heard a complaint from any of them. This group runs a top-notch holiday walking service that I highly recommend. Go if you like to walk and have the opportunity.

Contact addresses are as follows:

The organization that we booked our holiday with is called "HF Holidays."

Teachers' Travel Service Ltd. of Toronto Canada is the HF North American Representative if you are interested (email: info@teacherstravel.com).

I hope you have enjoyed this travel series. Tomorrow it's back to exciting days of autumn in Ontario. (Sure it will cool down soon. It always has.)

Wandering in the English Lake District - Day 5

With apologies to Snoopy, "It was a dark and stormy night..."and morning too.



Raindrops were falling on our heads and other body parts and cameras. The forecast for the day was rain and gale force wind on the mountain tops. One by one, the harder walk people opted for medium walks until the hard walk was cancelled. Then the medium walk was changed to lower levels on the mountains and shortened and given escape routes if the weather got worse. As it turned out, the gale force winds did not arrive and we could have done all the hikes as planned, but we didn't know. Nevertheless, as the medium walk came to the first steep uphill, we did decide to climb. It was just a quick up and back down but we did get some elevation in a mostly low level walk. It was a good opportunity to photograph the new "steps" that are being put into the hills to slow down the erosion and help keep walkers on the paths.



At the top of the climb, we stopped for a snack and more photos. Our walk this day had started at the bottom left of the photo near the lake and in the treed section.



Because our hike was lower and shorter than usual, we got back to the village where we had started sooner than usual. This wall was just on the edge of the village of Grasmere where we started and stopped our walk.



Since we were back early, and it was still raining lightly, most of the group went to the local pub. I opted instead for a local bookstore and found an excellent British Wild Flower book and an art book that was on sale. It would have been cheaper for me to have gone to the pub, I think.

Meanwhile, Églantine had opted for a half day hike and managed to get some excellent photos in spite of the off and on rain. Here is one of the old bridges that she crossed and photographed.



And below is the photo of a lone walker in the mists of the Lake District.



To end the day on a brighter note, here is a photo of the evening fruit basket that was part of our evening meal.



Fruit was always a desert option at evening meals and at lunches too. Perhaps I should write a bit about lunches on this write up of the next to last day of our walking holiday. Each morning before breakfast two tables were laden down with lunch foods for us to choose. These items were in addition to sandwiches that were prepared. One could order sandwiches the night before from a menu of about 12 types and then fill a lunch bag from tables in the hall in the morning. Here is one table of lunch items.



In case the photo is too small for you to see easily, let me enumerate some of the items available:

Dried fruit, nuts, raisins, bread rolls, tomatoes, celery, carrots, various packaged cheeses, boiled eggs, several types of grapes, bananas, apples, oranges, and peaches were on this table. On the other table were at least eight types of candy bars, several types of granola bars, fruit bars, and hard candies. Tea bags of various sorts as well as instant coffee were available for those who had thermos bottles and teakettles were available in every room to heat water. Did I mention that we could have as much as we wanted to pack and carry and that this was in addition to the sandwiches?

Wandering in the English Lake District - Day 4

Our fourth day was a "rest day." We spent the day wandering within two miles of the HF house taking photos of flowers and animals that we were not able to do on walking days as easily. So, here with a minimum of commentary, are a few of our photos from our day off.



This rabbit was one of several that we saw at dawn and dusk from the dining room window.



The snail was one of several that lived in the old, wild, overgrown, walled garden.



Églantine wanted to be with the tree in this photo.



There were many wild Red Campions growing in the area.



We kept trying to get a good sheep photo. Dark faces with light bodies made it difficult to get good shots.



We were told that this was Tormentil.



This spider was showing off its spinnerets.



This was one group of mushrooms, of many, that caught my eye.



I believe this is Red Hemp-Nettle. We saw over 50 species of wild flowers on our walks but did not establish names for all of them. If I have time, (ha, ha) I shall go through our old and new British wild flower books and try to put more names to those for which we have photos, later.