Eskdale Art

For the past 23 years St Bega's School in the Lake District has played host to the Eskdale Art Show at the end of May. (The show also raises funds for this small school).  If wanting to buy a picture, painting, prints or crafts this is the place to come, but it is also enjoyable just to browse and be amazed at the variety or art and artists in the area.  After that there will be copious amount of tea and a variety of home made cakes available to be enjoyed while sitting and admiring the surrounding hills.  No need to anguish about the number of calories consumed for there are plenty of walking opportunities in the area whether up hills or ambling by the side of  babbling brooks.

This year the road to the school was populated by small people

 inviting and enticing one along the road.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, amazingly starting its 19th Round here

ABC Wednesday - Eskdale

This old advertisement was in the little history centre which tells the story of the Ravenglass and Eskale Railway, from its 1875 beginning in industry when it took iron ore down the valley to the port of Ravenglass, and  its history of  carrying passengers and eventually holidaymakers, on this miniature railway track.

 River Mite (2-8-2) Steam Engine

It is still a popular tourist ride down, what this poster calls "the most beautiful valley in Lakeland", now there may be some dispute and other contenders for that title, but it is a very pretty ride on the train.

Eskdale is one of the starting routes to climb England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike, part of  the group of mountains know as the Scafell range.  The reason I took a photo of this poster is the marketing of the area  as 'The English Alps' which I found quite amusing, it should have added, 'in miniature', for the highest point is only 3,209 feet.

An annotated view of the Scafell group (where would we be without Wikipedia info) the photo is taken from Crinkle Crags which is part of another valley, Langdale, this also could be another good contender for "most beautiful valley" .  Here is Eskdale's upper end,

verdant valley and small fells which eventually lead out and up to the higher reaches. Being lakeland of course I have to include the

 

local  hill sheep of the valley.  

The River Esk flows down the valley

on its way to the coast where it will join two other rivers to flow into the Irish Sea.  Many streams run down from the tops to fill the river, the most well know of which is the

one mentioned on the poster, Stanley Ghyll, which always has a steady stream (don't groan), of people strolling up and down, in various stages of fitness to look at the run of many  little

waterfalls. 

Time to take the train home? 

 Climb Aboard. Perhaps don your anorak, I've got mine on;  and watch the trains

Entertain yourself with a visit to ABC Wednesday where there will be lots more words starting with E

ABC Wednesday - Recycle

Got a gap in your dry stone wall and an old bed head? Perfect, recycle, and as a bonus you get a great view.

Got some odds and ends in your shed?  Perhaps in will recycle and make a gate.  Sheds tend to accummulate odds and ends that "might come in", and sometimes they do, and sometimes they are just waiting years for that occasion for when it can be said, "I've got just the thing", shed dwellers dream of that time.  There is a certain satisfaction of reusing an object for a completely different practical purpose.  Far better than

 

just throwing things away on a piece of waste ground. The snow on the ground earlier this year disguising the rubble.
The affluent nations of the world throw so much away that in past times we would have repaired, recycled or reused.  In a world of finite resources things have started to change, in a small way, some countries are better than others.  Germany recycles with enthusiasm, the UK is getting better but we still languish near the bottom of the European league table.  Things get a little better year by year as things are sent for reprocessing.  Aluminium cans can be recycled time after time, using only 5% of the energy and emissions needs to make it from raw material. It can be turned into paper-clips, bridges, or even....a can. 

 

Green bins just delivered for garden waste in a rural location. 

Run over to ABC Wednesday and see what other words start with R

 

Baa-ck Soon

Summer has arrived and like this curious sheep we have all taken our layers off, but of course nature does that for her.

I am off for a week's holiday in the Howgill Fells which is not very far from here in the Lake District, about fifty miles.  Wainwright describes it as "a stepping-stone between Lakeland and the north western Yorkshire Dales".  Weather of course is unpredictable so I may come back with blue sky photos or an atmospheric watery misty grey.  If the latter I may find time to resume my reading challenge which has slipped by the wayside in the last month.

The gorse is now in its full bright yellow flower everywhere.  The blue on these sheep denotes they are a hardy fell sheep, used to roaming the hills.

Town & Country

Travelling to Lancaster by train I cracked open 'The Good Husband of Zebra Drive' to settle down to the journey and then realised that I knew the end, it was one of the episodes the BBC made of  McCall Smith's books. No matter, this series set in a bucolic Botswana where there might be a few deaths and matters to be investigated but ultimately nothing bad is going to happen, a cosy read and a pleasant way to pass a journey.

This weekend has had some wonderfully hot weather so after visiting the town we headed for the canal and then to Williamson Park whose view from the first photo is over the town.

But the best way to spend days with glorious blue skies is either by the beach or a river

so back to home ground and a walk over to the Eskdale Valley. The water by Doctor Bridge was very inviting and the crowds were out by the Duddon and the Esk.  Well when I say crowds I really mean a couple of dozen people.

After an unusually dry May the River Esk is quite low but the gorse

and broom are in full yellowy blaze.

And the lambs, well I never can resist a picture of them. They always lamb late in this valley because of its hight above sea level.

ABC Wednesday - V

V could be for Verbena, just planted, which requires little care and flowers prolifically, but has to put up with claggy clay soil here. If it had a choice it would probably prefer well drained sandy soil such as may be found round this Village in Kent, a county sometimes called the Garden of England

Villages nestle in Valleys but in more dangerous times it was probably better to know who was coming to see you, and a higher view would be safer. Here is the Iron Age Fort (that bit on the end of Table Mountain in Wales) which gives clear sight.
If you walk along the ridge to Pen Allt Mawr and even better view, nobody can sneak up that way either. Today it is a rather more peaceful scene with a patchwork of little fields.
Yes my V is for Valleys. June is a beautiful time for them when everything is fresh, and subtle and vivid colours lay against each other. The vivid yellow of the flowering rape stands out
but perhaps the subtle yellow of wild flowers in the meadows is prettier.
The coal mining areas of south Wales are usually referred to as The Valleys. A century ago the Dare Valley was one of those coal mining areas. These days have long gone, and in 1970s the land was reclaimed, by removing the coal tips, grassing over some of the spoil heaps, rerouting the River Dare, creating 2 lakes and tuning the area into the Dare Valley Country Park. Nature returned.
All that is left of the 4 colleries are the capped shafts
Yes what could be better than to stand in a valley, lean on a five barred gate and watch the world go by, or really just a few sheep.
The Cistercian monks in the middle ages probably thought that when they built the beautiful sandstone Furness Abbey here in the Valley of the Deadly Nightshade ( a wonderfully evocative name). They grew wealthy from the wool of sheep, and the labour of the local populace, until Henry the Eighth came along.

For a variety of more Vs go over to ABC Wednesday

Eskdale

Here are a couple of lambs we saw yesterday which had just been born, barley able to stand, the mother is licking one of them clean. Another mother's lamb looks on with interest. These are very late and must be one of last ones this year.

Set off from Birker Fell yesterday on a sunny, but windy day, with the skylarks singing their hearts out and a couple of swifts swooping, the first of our summer visitors we would see this day. Walked through the fields of sheep and lambs and onto the fell side. The views of the hills were very clear as we headed for Stanley Gill which had plenty of water rushing down after a week of rain. Here was our second summer visitor from Africa a male Yellow Wagtail flying along the water and perching on rocks.
A pleasant walk down by the side of the Force and down to the River Esk. The stepping stones by the church were underwater so nobody was attempting to cross them.
Strolled along by the river bank and over the bridge to head for the Woolpack Inn where it was warm enough, just, to sit outside and have drink.
Suitably refreshed we headed back past Doctors Bridge
and back past bluebells, primroses and blossom, strolled by the river bank and retraced our steps up Stanley Gill as the afternoon clouds cleared and the day got warmer.