An Epic Landscape Photography Road Trip to Lake District & Scotland: Part 1
I think it goes without saying that I absolutely love an adventure! More than anything. Maybe even anyone for that matter. Even more so when photography is involved, which seems to be all of the time at the moment. It’s great. I live for those days where I leave my normal life behind in a cloud of smoke and head off spontaneously into the wilderness armed with nothing but my camera and a few tins of tuna in tow. If you’ve been following on Instagram, you’ll see that not much gets in the way of me and my tuna pasta while on location.
Packing up my hiking essentials for an epic landscape photograph trip to the Lake District. A bag of Morgan’s Brew to keep me going of course.
In September 2020, I set off on what was my most exciting solo adventure yet. I’d been ‘planning’ a trip to Scotland for a while. It’s in inverted commas because there’s never a great deal of planning that really goes on in this head, it’s normally a few weeks of, ‘ hmm, I might go to Scotland soon’ and then a , ‘yea I’ve had enough of this, I’m going to Scotland… Like… NOW!!’ That’s exactly what happened back in September. En route to Scotland I thought it would be very rude not to pit stop in the Lake District, and kill two birds with one stone to make it a maiden visit to both of these stunning UK landscape photography locations.
LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE LAKE DISTRICT: CATBELLS & DERWENTWATER
I arrived in the Lake District at around 7am after a 3am wake up call to leave my home in Welshpool. Those are the kind of alarm clocks that I don’t mind and I was quickly up and out of bed to be on my way. There was not a soul on the road throughout the whole journey bar me. It wasn’t what I’d call lonely though, I had my favourite adventure playlist for company and blasted it loud for the whole drive. More so to keep me awake than anything. In typical fashion, I hadn’t planned a thing. The YouTube photographers that I love to watch have always mentioned Catbells and Derwentwater as fantastic spots for landscape photography and so I decided to pull up beneath Catbells; a modest 451m hill to make this my first location ever in the lakes. Modest, however, it certainly was not. The route that I picked was a few degrees shy of vertical and in my excitement to beat the sunrise I exhausted myself on the climb. But, I was quickly reinvigorated upon getting to the top with a view over Derwentwater towards Keswick and Skiddaw, as you can see in the photograph below, that was simply magnificent. Not bad for my first morning in the Lake District don’t you think?
First of the mornings’ light kisses the face of Catbells in the Lake District.
Looking a little further east towards Blencathra over Derwentwater and watching the light pour into Borrowdale valley was just a beautiful and humbling experience. I still remember the feeling of those first rays of light on my face to this day. It was just after this photograph that I filmed one of my first vlogs to launch a print giveaway via Facebook & Instagram.
Glorious sunrise view of Blencathra over Derwentwater.
The views in the other direction were not to bad either! I love this time of the day, with not much else around for company, I get to enjoy watching the soft golden sunlight slowly painting the landscape all by myself. It really is my idea of bliss and now I’ve found it, there is no going back.
First of the mornings’ light kissing the tops of the Lake District fells.
I spent a few minutes running to and from the camera to get this self portrait of me admiring the incredible panoramic views. This process is always one of my favourite parts about a solo adventure. And no, no one has embarrassingly caught me in the act just yet!
I take a few moments to sit and admire the view of Derwentwater and Blencathra.
In the photograph below, I witnessed another truly spectacular sight as those beautiful golden sunlight rays poured over the other side of the Borrowdale valley. I didn’t know it yet, but on the evening of that day over there is where I would find myself taking one of my favourite ever photographs which I’ll be sharing with you later.
Golden light pouring into Borrowdale valley.
The route down from Catbells provided some magnificent opportunities to pick out compositions like these with the Canon 70-200mm f/4 - a must have lens for any landscape photographer that loves climbing mountains. This first shot actually turned out to be one of my favourites from the trip. I edited a black and white version too which I will share below. I think it looks fantastic.
Layers of hills in the Lake District.
First morning light shines on the landscape in the Lake District.
Layers of hills in the Lake District.
And that was pretty much that from my first morning of landscape photography in the beautiful Lake District. I had heard some wonderful things on YouTube about the woodland in the area and so I decided to spend the afternoon exploring around the woods that line the west side of Derwentwater. Afternoon light, and especially bright, sunny, blue sky and strong afternoon light have never been my favourite conditions to make photographs. The light is generally very harsh and colours look particularly strong, especially in woodland and so I barely even took a photograph until a little later in the day. I did however, manage to take a few upmarket selfies of me enjoying a nice cup of Morgan’s Brew in the woods.
LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE LAKE DISTRICT: GUMMER’S HOW & WINDERMERE
I spent a little time in the afternoon wandering around Windermere without a care in the world. There was nowhere for me to be and it was such a liberating feeling after a few months at work. As I strolled around Windermere I started thinking about how my grandparents always loved visiting this part of the world, they would normally visit once or twice a year and call in to see us in Welshpool on the way home to the south of England. I saw a beautiful photograph of them together above one of the lakes on my Nans’ kitchen cupboard and that is what initially planted the seed for me to visit the Lake District. I decided that I would find a viewpoint above Windermere and try to capture a photograph of the area for her. On scouting the map for a viewpoint of Windermere, I could see that there was only one place for it; Gummer’s How.
I captured this intimate moment between calf and cow on the walk to Gummer’s How. I thought it would make a great print and so I listed it here: Lost in Nature Collection. Sometimes, I wish I had the chance to do some more animals and wildlife photography but at the moment, the landscape and nature has a firm grip on me and doesn’t show any signs of letting go!
A calf and its’ Mum in the grass en route to Gummer’s How. Available as a print in the Lost in Nature Collection
I made it to the top of Gummer’s How and wow, wasn’t I treated to one of the best views in the house? These aren’t my preferred conditions for photography but this photograph served its’ purpose well. Gummer’s How is one spot that I will definitely revisit with some better light upon my next visit north. I’ve learnt many lessons through my photography so far though every time I head out with my camera, patience seems to be a recurring theme throughout. I normally have to visit a place three or four times before I get a photograph that’s truly portfolio worthy.
Panoramic view of Windermere and surrounding fells in the Lake District.
LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE LAKE DISTRICT: ASHNESS BRIDGE & SKIDDAW
Onto my next location for sunset and it’s one that really needs no introduction and talking of portfolio photographs, this is one that I was delighted with upon returning home. This photograph will be staying in my portfolio for a long time.
Ashness Bridge, a tiny packhorse bridge that crosses a stream and one can only begin to imagine the stories of old horse and carts crossing over as they made their way into Keswick carrying goods and messages from far out villages. There isn’t much that could have stopped me from sitting here for hours and hours. Until….
The view of Skiddaw from Ashness Bridge has to be up there among the most spectacular in the country.
There I was, just slowing down and taking my time, making a relaxing photo of this beautiful little scene when out of nowhere I hear the sound of tyres squealing. Here he comes. Getting ever close. In sight now, the driver swings his car around the tight bend in shot and hurtles over the bridge appearing to forget that only a sixpence would have fit between either side of his car and the old stone. Clearly this guy was in a rush and wasn’t hanging around for anyone. I was trying to get back in my flow state and make a few photographs of the bridge and mountains in the fading blue hour light when this guy starts making his way towards my direction. At this point, I’m thinking I’m about to get mugged. Camera and photographs gone forever. No, he’s a thrill-seeking base jumper and he’s making his way to ‘Falcon’s Crag’ to hurl himself into the oblivion below and he asks me if I’d like to follow him up there to bag a shot of him in action.
I still remember how excited I was to have nailed this photograph. I shared a video of my reaction to me scrolling through my camera roll for the first time on Instagram and I believe it’s still saved to my ‘highlights’ section if you want to take a look.
A base jumper hurls himself off Falcon Crag into the abyss below.
And that was me pretty much done for day one. What a superb end to a crazy day it was. I remember wondering how it feels to be a full time travelling landscape photographer as I made my way back to the car park to cook some tuna and pasta. How amazing it would be to do things like this to earn a living. I was even more determined to make this little dream of mine a reality after an incredible day behind the camera. After eating, I converted my car into camper van for the night and set my alarm for 6am in order to make my way west to Wastwater, a beautifully tranquil lake that lies beneath some of the highest mountains in England; Scaffell Pike, Great Gable and Lingmell.
In typical fashion, I spent a night in my car. There’s always time to read a book before bed.
LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE LAKE DISTRICT: WASTWATER
A kayaker makes his way across Wastwater with Scafell Pike making for a quite spectacular backdrop.
My first task when I arrived at Wastwater was simply to wander around the lake to find my bearings. I didn’t exactly know what to expect here, though I did know that the best place to be was somewhere towards the south west of the lake which provides a magnificent view of the three mountains that sit over towards Wasdale Head. The conditions weren’t providing me with the most spectacular displays of light and low cloud covered the majority of mountains. I was stuck with some of the worst conditions imaginable for a landscape photographer, flat, grey and, dare I say it, a little boring. I’m not one to complain though and this didn’t stop me grabbing some photographs that I was happy with, like this one of a beautifully constructed old stone boathouse.
An old stone boathouse lying at the south westerly point of Wastwater in the Lake District.
Landscape photography for me, is a little bit like life to be honest, we have to just play the cards that we are dealt and make the best of them. Sitting around with a bad attitude and complaining about things has never taken me far, I don’t know about you? And so I pressed on, in search of the next photographs. Most of these won’t be portfolio photographs, of course, they are simply being compiled in this blog for documentary purposes, for the thought of one day looking back one day to see how far I have come. I’m sure that I’ll revisit these same spots many times throughout the course of my life and one day, I know that the ‘right’ light and conditions will be there waiting for me and for that, I will make sure that I am very grateful.
After a brief pit stop for breakfast which consisted of beans and scrambled eggs cooked on my trusty camping stove, I made my way to the other end of the lake via this beautiful little winding road that runs beside Wastwater. I’ve always had a bit of a thing for these old country roads, more so for the thought of what they once were and what they perhaps once carried than for the thought of what they are now.
With some better light, I’m sure that this photograph would be transformed into something magnificent. The little road makes Kirk Fell look quite daunting and I’d love to have the chance to do this scene some justice. I just need to invent that weather remote. But then again, that might soon get a little boring.
Old winding road runs beside Wastwater in the Lake District.
I used a bit of time in the afternoon to head into the waters for a bit of a wild swim, though I’ll use that term loosely because I won’t be entering the Olympics anytime soon, that’s for sure. As a fish is out of water, the same I am in it. You can just about see the little beach area that I swam from in the photograph below. I could think of many worse places to live than this beautiful little cottage that sits at the foot of Scaffel Pike.
Lone white cottage beside Wastwater sits beneath the giant Scaffel Pike.
So that was pretty much all from my hectic little road trip around the Lake District. Overall, I was delighted with my whole experience in the north of England. This was definitely a great taster of what is to come from the area and I’m thinking about making a visit for round two sometime this year. After my day around the beautiful Wastwater, I found a place to park my car up for the night. I cooked some food while watching the sunset and then proceeded to lay the drivers seat back for six hours sleep before making the four hour trip up to… Yep you guessed it… Scotland!!
Part two of my Epic Landscape Photography Road Trip coming soon.
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