By a Mossy Gnome

An unusual Christmas tree

Loughrigg was a grey, mysterious place in the mist.   Lily Tarn had turned to ice, and small trees were still white and delicate with hoar frost, the temperature too icy for it to melt.  It looked bleak and wild, but the sound of children’s voices rang out, as families and groups of walkers in bright clothes wandered across the hilltop.  There was laughter in the mist, and the booming sound of stones thrown onto the icy tarn.  The Lake District is popular at Christmas and New Year, and in spite of the weather,  holiday makers enjoyed walking in this strange place, a thousand feet above their usual world.

This tree was decorated with a holly wreath.  Perhaps it was a memorial to someone who used to enjoy the view from this spot, high above Ambleside?

What to give the Golden Eagle that has everything?

Dear Santa,

Please leave some dead furry animals in my Christmas stocking.  I know I'm supposed to be a superb hunter, but I'm a bit lazy really and prefer it if someone else does it for me.  Maybe  your elves would oblige.  I've been a good eagle this year, so please bring me lots of lovely presents.

Yours, Goldie

I'd much rather see a Golden Eagle soaring free above Riggindale or else some Scottish glen but still - it was nice to have the opportunity to look one in the eye.  

I’d rather be in the Lake District - oh, wait a minute, I am.

Is this the first vulture ever seen in Ambleside?  It’s not an indicator of climate change and the desertification of the Lake District.   While the main car park offers free parking to try and attract Christmas shoppers to the town, Hayes Garden Centre had some interesting furry and feathered visitors.  This bird is part of a breeding programme, to prevent a shortage of  one particular variety of vulture.  It was accompanied by a golden eagle, a buzzard, and a harris hawk.  They all sat among the Christmas decorations, near the spring bulbs section, blinking and looking as though they wondered what they were doing there.  Although having very mixed feelings about birds of prey kept in captivity (even ones that are allowed to fly around and hunt, as these are) it was interesting to see them at close quarters.

A Small Rescue Team Bear Climbs a Mountain

Only someone dressed in warm hiking gear would sit outside for a cup of coffee but it was nice to watch the world - or at least that part of it visiting Amble side - go  by.   On the roadside near the small shopping precinct, members of the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team were raising funds by selling mugs, emergency whistles, pens and small teddy bears dressed in a Rescue Team tee shirt.  One of the bears (which will probably do duty as a Christmas present later) ascended Wansfell with me.  I was just setting off when I spotted the roadside sale and bought it, so there was nothing else to do but put it in my rucksack, hoping it wouldn't get too squashed.  Being a Rescue Team bear, I expect it already knows about winter walking and how to keep safe. 

Wansfell in mid winter

Wansfell is the perfect little mountain to climb on a short winter’s day.   Today, after a murky start, the sun, never very high at this time of year, eventually broke through the clouds.  Here it glows over Windermere.  Avery cold wind blew over the summit of the fell and it was difficult to stay long to admire the views from there - requiring some determination plus extra layers, gloves, hat and scarf and plenty of hot tea.   It was worth it, though.  The last time I was up here at this time of year, the landscape was largely hidden in a thin, grey mist.

Christmas dinner with a bird's eye view

Is that Christmas dinner peeping down from the balcony? That's Mr Turkey, and Mr and Mrs Turkey seem contentedly free-range, and were looking out over their world from the spinning gallery at Yew Tree Farm. Oh dear - only a couple of weeks to go.  

Short days

The days are so short now.   You have to set off early if you want to climb one of the bigger fells in the Lake District.  For those who have a late start, after a leisurely cup of coffee in a café, like the one at Yew Tree Farm, there may be time only for one of the smaller summits - in this case Holme Fell.  It seems all too soon after a lunch in some sunny corner near the top, sheltered from the wind, before the sun begins to move down towards the horizon.  The rays reach out to touch the landscape for the last time before disappearing behind the hills.  

Which would you choose?

Would you prefer a cup of tea by a roaring log fire inside Yewtree Farm, looking out at the snowy hillside through the window, past the Christmas tree on the windowsill?  Or the same cup of tea at a table outside, to look out over the mountain and the snow glistening in the sunshine, and watch the birds at the bird-feeder?  Well, which would you choose? 

The Great Wall of Lingmoor

I was away from the Lake District last weekend. To keep the Lakeland withdrawal symptoms away, I still have some fast-fading memories of a walk from Elterwater a couple of weeks ago.  This is the Great Wall of Lingmoor.  I've never seen the Great Wall of China, but the stony barrier rippling its way along the summit ridge of Lingmoor resembles photos of it.  It is very unlikely that this one is visible from Space (although it may be a myth that the Chinese one is) so you will have to climb Lingmoor to see it.  It is a pleasant walk, not too strenuous, and suitable for a short winter's day.