Thursday, April 24, 2008

Thursday 24th April 2008 Wrynose and Hardknot day

The day started off with heavy rain, so we lazed around until about 11, when the sun came out, so there was a hasty packing up of sandwiches for dinner, and off we went, first through Honister pass,
Then we stopped by Buttermere for tea and Grasmere Gingerbread, and across to the coast road and south, then via the back roads to Eskdale Green and Wast Water.
I took quite a few shots here even though the weather was misty and dull, and made a panoramic of five shots to begin with,The sheer size of the screes on the other side of the lake make it impossible to get much in using a normal wide angle lens, so this is where the big advantage of Panoramas comes inEven on the shoreline the sheer scale of the scene defeats the normal wide angle lens and this time stitching two vertical images together is definitely the best idea
Here is a vertical panorama of just two, which enables including a decent foreground and lots of sky
No visit to the lakes is complete without a run across Wrynose and Hardknot Pass, so this was the way we decided to come back
And this is the view down Wrynose looking to the west: it's a great run during the week when there's little or no Traffic!
The road over the passes is narrow, twisting, steep, badly rutted, and in wet conditions treacherous: if there is any ice about: it's a no go area to all traffic!
Which makes it of course a magnet to the curious: if you want a treat park by the roadside and watch the faces of the drivers as they pass: it isn't hard to tell the difference with the experienced driver's who've done it before and the newbies having the (scary) time of their lives.
Last year when we were here there was an event where 300 mini's came over the passes, covered in streamers, union jacks, balloons etc., some of them were ancient, and I remembered driving them over the same road thirty years ago: even though they were nearly new then, they only just had enough power to make the climb (and god help the brake linings on the down side!)
One of the mini vans was a mobile garage workshop filled with spare parts and a mechanic so they were well prepared.
incredibly they all made it in style, with a large crowd cheering them on.
It was a real fun occasion!
We then turned into Little langdale, stopping for a look at Blea Tarn of course, before completing our journey home via Ambleside and a welcome rest.

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