This week, everything lined up perfectly.
Spent a day in the Lakes national park without seeing a soul.
Found no litter. Not even a balloon.
Parked for free.
This has never happened, in a decade of living here.
It started with Mark, a young man (seen here in an old book). THREAD
As I packed my kit, an annoyed suit arrived and spoke to two roadside employees at double-espresso-for-breakfast speed. But they'd gone before I set off, so they don't count.
Fell pony views from a northern red-brick path.
A ladder 'hidden in plain sight'? Or an invitation?
Something odd on the map...looked like a hideout for a felltop Bond villain.
Imagine having built the cairn. 50 years ago.
Still looked good. Surprised me, and I the spider.
Lousewort in bloom. Not sure where its name came from.
Sympathetic medicine or a lousy time for beasts?
I'd missed a landmark from Wainwright's sketch.
Assumed it'd maybe fallen down?
Until I turned back for the view...
Always turn back for views.
People who only look down at the path miss all of this.
(Good excuse for a rest too).
I think you've to 'trespass' a bit, to have a closer look.
(There's a really important petition about trespass at the moment, that you really need to sign, for everyone's sake).
Caused no damage or harm.
Had a very nice bilberry though.
Saw an oak locked up for its own safety...
Another of Mark's cairns. I could see the Coast to Coast from here. Heather's one of #thelostwords too.
A bit later, Hugh Laithes pulled a face at me.
Maybe as the bracken was over my head. Followed a tunnel made by a...pony? deer? cow?
I actually stopped mid-stride, said "hello you!" and walked backwards to look at this.
Grass of Parnassus. "Bog-Star". Cumbria's county flower.
I've only seen it once before, when a school pupil called Isaac spotted it, (when I was meant to be showing him around Eycott Hill)...
Got better than that. The rain started less than one minute after I got back in the car.
When I got home I'd been sent a lovely book by an artist I've never met. (Send someone a book. It's a good thing to do).
PS Shap Chippy was closed but you can't have everything, can you..?
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