Ice on Tarn Hows and the high fells 6 March Snow on the high fells and frozen waterfalls. Ice on Tarn Hows. Last week's weather from Siberia is over. Although Alston, the highest village in England at 1000 feet, is still cut off by snow drifts with supplies flown in by Chinook from Carlisle. No longer that biting wind from the east. Once again we are under the influence of Atlantic weather systems. There is low cloud, volatile cloud that sweeps across the fells in surges, mingling with moment of transcendence.
Low cloud engulfs us and the moisture-laden atmosphere soaks my hair. A cloudy day, said the forecast. But sunlight gleams off snow on the high fells and there are glimpses of muted colour. My spirit soared. ' I want to be up there.' I pointed to a snowy sunlit ridge in luminous cloud. To be of that elemental brilliance. Dawn's face lit up as I spoke, voicing her own thought for that very ridge. I was content to walk companionably in these lower fells, to be here in body.
There's a famous painting Wanderer in a Sea of Mist, where a solitary figure looks down upon cloud. One of my favourite images of the day echoes it. Three figures stand contemplating the sublime. Wherever thought might lead them I know my companions were drawn by the light. 'Come and look at Coniston,' Judy called to me as the lake grew more and more brilliant. 'Look at the mist,' said Dawn, as I photographed backlit birch trees and we watched cloud rolling across the fell side.
Not far from Black Crag our leader John Edmondson paused to tell us that the circle of stones at our feet is the remains of a bark peeler's hut- one of half a dozen in the Lake District. Next morning, I begin to read-up on the woodland economy, based on Furness Abbey from medieval times. And I see both map and landscape in a different way.
Writing of the day, I realise that a purist might question my shifting between tenses, not distinguishing between past and present but mingling them. Today in the fells is a journey through time and place. The cache of images shows an involvement with the moment, the ever-changing light and the elements. But all around us there are stories of the past, if only we are able to read them. Of the past reaching back to the earliest influence of Furness Abbey: it's wealth, power and influence. A history and a natural history at different times, different seasons.
Not far from Black Crag our leader John Edmondson paused to tell us that the circle of stones at our feet is the remains of a bark peeler's hut- one of half a dozen in the Lake District. Next morning, I begin to read-up on the woodland economy, based on Furness Abbey from medieval times. And I see both map and landscape in a different way.
Writing of the day, I realise that a purist might question my shifting between tenses, not distinguishing between past and present but mingling them. Today in the fells is a journey through time and place. The cache of images shows an involvement with the moment, the ever-changing light and the elements. But all around us there are stories of the past, if only we are able to read them. Of the past reaching back to the earliest influence of Furness Abbey: it's wealth, power and influence. A history and a natural history at different times, different seasons.
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