After a tremendous swim in Glaslyn, I had hoped to extend my wild swimming season by a month or so. Unfortunately I never made it into the water before Christmas, however much I had wanted too. Then I’d planned on a New Year swim at Coniston but with no planned walk for the day my hopes fizzled away like a firework. Though 2020 has been really slow to start (even slower than 2019!) my mind is already dreaming of the year ahead and I am looking forward to many wild swim/walks this year.
I’ve already booked a four nights break for my birthday, at a loch-side cabin in Scotland’s Trossachs National Park. With 22 loch’s I am spoiled for choice! Just looking at the variety of lochs, such as Katrine, Venachar and Lubnaig, I’m already getting super excited!
Loch Katrine (Google Image)
Loch Venachar (Google Image)
Loch Lubnaig (Google Image)
For my first swim this season I am hoping to tick off the Eskdale Blea Tarn! I’ve already swam the other two! Langdale, and Watendlath. I’ve read blogs and seen pictures of the Eskdale Blea Tarn and I am eager to get back into the water. It’s just a matter of logistics with car parking.
Blea Tarn Eskdale (Google Image)
Though I’ve always wanted to swim in Grisedale Tarn, perhaps it’s height position may deter me?
Grisedale Tarn (Google Image)
The resting place of the crown of Cumbria may have to wait. However this year I do intend to swim in Helvellyn’s Red Tarn and Blea Water of Haweswater fame. I think both these tarns are achievable.
Red Tarn (Google Image)
Blea Water (Google Image)
Again Coniston is the only ‘large’ lake I’ve not swam in and the Old Man of Coniston has many swimmable waters, e.g. levers and goat’s. I’ll aim for these this year.
Coniston
Ullswater
Hopefully we’ll be able to bring Riley with us again on our Lake District adventures and introduce him to swimming in Ullswater!
In Snowdonia, I hope to tick off Llyn Padarn and Gwynant.
Llyn Padarn
Llyn Gwynant
They seem the two easiest of the llyns I have my eye on! Llyn Ffynnon-y-gwas and Llyn Du’r Arddu of Snowdon fame may be a bit of a hike.
Llyn Ffynnon-y-gwas (Google Image)
Llyn Du’r Arddu (Google image)
However, Llyn Nantlle and Llyn Cwm Silyn Uchaf, again will have issues with logistics. If you know of places to park and walking routes, do let me know.
Llyn Nantlle
llyn cwm silyn uchaf by Mud and routes
So there you have a brief glimpse into my mind for the wild swim year ahead. If you have any swim suggestions, do let me know.
As December comes to a close and the end of the decade draws ever closer, it’s time to look back at 2019. The year was slow to get going but when it did it snowballed! The second half of 2019 has been a roller-coaster! Together, David and I have been on many exciting adventures. Below find 12 random pictures that highlight the year that was 2019!
January:
The year began with a ten mile walk around Kewsick, where I introduced Riley to the joys of paddling in Derwentwater.
Riley in Entrust NT Hands
February:
During this cold month I embarked on many Riley walks with friends and family.
Family walk to Formby Beach
March:
David and I became members of the RSPB and visited many reserves in the North West. A favourite of mine is Leighton Moss, Morecambe where we got to feed hungry robins and tits.
Feeding a Robin
April:
We purchased our first female Lady Gouldian Finch. She is a nice addition to the aviary.
Rize the Lady Gouldian Finch
May:
I managed to go on my first wild swim of the season in May. I took a gentle walk to High Dam near Windermere for a peaceful swim amidst nature.
High Dam swim
June:
June had so many highlights it was difficult to chose just one, from raising painted lady butterflies to being bee-keepers for the day. However playing host to our American friend Jennifer who came to visit for a second time was even more fun than her first visit. We hiked in the Ogwen Valley and wild swam in Llyns Bochlwyd and Idwal.
Selfie time at Ogwen Valley
July:
Work wise 2019 hasn’t been a great year for neither David nor myself. To outweigh all the negativity in his workplace David joined in a fun day with dalmatian puppies.
David and Dalmatian Puppy
August:
Saving a poor gull who had fallen from its nest (high up on a roof) from uncertain death was ultimately fulfilling especially when a week later it flew off independently.
Harald
September:
We finally managed to go on a short break to the Lake District after postponing earlier in the year.
Grasmere from Grey Crag
October:
I finally ticked off Glaslyn after booking a short break away to Snowdonia for my birthday.
Glaslyn
November:
David bought a new car! A Honda Civic but I still miss his old car the Renault Clio.
Honda Civic
December:
Though December is all about the excitement (or stress) of Christmas, this year’s trip to New York overshadowed Christmas preparations. My most lasting memory of the holiday was standing on the shoreline before a magnificent Brooklyn Bridge.
The Brooklyn Bridge
Let’s hope 2020 will be another kind year!
I wish you all good health and happiness for the new year ahead!
A while back I blogged about the Wainwrights David and I had inadvertently bagged while on our many swim/walks in the Lake District. You can read that post here. I thought I would follow up with a second blog which covers Wainwrights walked since 2017 up to the present. Many of the walks this time have been planned, except Beda Fell, which we discovered whilst lost en route to Angle Tarn. You can read about that exhausting adventure, here.
We took a walk to the viewpoint at Raven Crag during a short break to the Lakes in March 2017. Though the path was steep, Raven Crag was broached with no incident, and offered fantastic views of Thirmere. In spring the area is host to nesting Peregrine Falcons. We had the pleasure of seeing one fly over the tree tops.
We walked to Dodd on a cloudy, windy day in April 2017. After visiting the Osprey viewpoint and seeing no Ospreys, we walked through forestry towards the viewpoint at Dodd overlooking Derwentwater and Keswick.
Sadly I have no pictures of Beda Fell. After losing our way towards Angle Tarn and walking a good hour or so around the desolate fells, when we did come to a trig and viewpoint across a valley, I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to snap a photo. Though in hindsight I wish I had because the view was beautiful!
Though the smallest of the Wainwrights, David and I had difficulty in following the path towards Castle Crag. We ended up taking the direct route! We did enjoy wondrous views across Derwentwater once we got to the summit!
Our most recent visit to the newly awarded World Heritage Site, The Lake District, saw us visit Latrigg. Over the past two years we had tried to visit this popular fell but time and weather had prevented us. However we visited on a summer-like day in April 2018, where the sun shone fiercely and the views were breathtaking!
Though we are not actively seeking Wainwrights, we have accumulated eight of the 214 fells. I can’t see (especially) me walking the likes of Helvellyn or Scafell Pike but I am enjoying the views from the lower fells.
If you’ve bagged all the Wainwrights, which ones do you think I could tackle in the future?
1st January 2017. A new year stretched out before us unwritten. David and I decided to start our 2017 adventures in earnest. While many nursed their heads after the previous nights joviality, we headed up an empty M6 towards Cumbria, the Lake District. Our first destination, Banishead Quarry north of Torver.
We parked the car at Torver Village Hall, where they asked for a £3 donation. There was free parking further along the road, but as the day progressed they became very busy.
From the village hall we turned right onto the A593 and walked towards Crook Corner, and took the left-hand path that lead to Scar Head Caravans and Campsite. From there we followed signs to Tranearth before taking the right-hand path onto the Coniston Fells with the Old Man ahead.
The Old Man of Coniston
Banishead Quarry wasn’t hard to miss. A rocky path wound between huge peaks of spoil heaps.
Banishead Quarry
The gem of this disused quarry is a flooded excavation site, featuring its very own waterfall.
Banishead Waterfall
We could have carried on towards the Old Man, or indeed took a path from Torver towards Coniston lakeside but we decided to retrace our steps back to the car and head towards the car park at Coniston Boat Centre.
It was a perfect winters day, save for the bone chilling wind and the bright sunlight that seared the backs of our retinas.
After lunch we walked away from the car park, through a collection of shops (among them, one was an outdoor shop and another sold fudge), then through a kissing gate to a path that meandered towards Coniston Water, passing Coniston Hall and another campsite.
The path was popular with dog walkers and families with pushchairs alike. We spent a leisurely three hours walking to the shoreline and back.
Coniston Water
Have you visited Coniston? Any memories of the area?
I can’t believe how quickly the first week of 30 Days Wild went and now I am finalising this post at the end of the second week! I am enjoying reading other bloggers’ adventures, and The Wildlife Trusts, 30 Days Wild app, of 101 random acts of wildness, is really inspiring me to learn more about the nature that I see around me.
Day Eight: Wednesday.
Wednesday was World Oceans Day. Highlighting the plight of the seas and collaborating for a better future. I was unable to get to the coast but I still managed to celebrate the diversity of the oceans. It was a day of cooking and baking bread. I shaped these granary loaves into sea turtles (recipe here). I’m no artist but I am pretty happy with how they turned out. What do you think?
In the afternoon I opened the app for the Great British Bee Count. I thought with the amount of bees flying about the yarden that I could do a timed count. I set up alongside a popular plant and started the one minute timer. Sadly, all the bees must have known and only one mason bee made an appearance! Typical!
Day Nine: Thursday.
I turned to the wildness cards for inspiration. I downloaded the cards from the email pack The Wildlife Trusts sent when I signed up for 30 Days Wild. (I wish I had asked for a mail pack as they sent a cute little ‘I love wild’ badge! But such is life!)
I picked the sketch up close card. If my sea turtle bread rolls were any indication, then this activity could go horribly wrong, but I had to try. So I grabbed a piece of paper and sharpened a pencil and sat down to draw one of my favourite garden birds. The dunnock.
Some interesting facts on the dunnock (hedge sparrow):
Has a fine bill due to preferring insects and beetles than seeds.
Is a ground feeder.
As their diets are similar to Robins, can come into conflict if food is scarce, usually losing out to the more aggressive Robins.
Their nests are often parasitised by the cuckoo.
Most are polyandrous (female has more than one male mate) or polygynous (males have more than one female mate).
Day Ten: Friday.
I let David chose today’s ‘wild card’. He chose keep a note of wildlife. List the species that you see from your window. I decided to spend an hour watching the yarden after the evenings dinner. Here’s what I saw.
House Sparrow (x1)
Pigeons (x4)
Bees (many)
Hover flies (many)
Flies (many)
Dunnock (x1)
Goldfinches (x2)
Small white butterfly (x1)
Cinnabar moth (x1)
Spider (garden) (x1)
Snails (x2)
Magpie (x1)
Herring gull (x1)
Day Eleven: Saturday.
During 30 Days Wild, I have also been setting up my camcorder to record for an hour a day. Below is the ‘highlights’ video of the species, mainly birds visiting the yarden.
Day Twelve: Sunday.
With the flowers having fallen, it was time to haul up our potato plants. We have found that it has not been easy to grow our own vegetables. However, David and I were overjoyed that we got some kind of harvest! Below find pictures of us celebrating our maris bard potatoes!
Maris Bard potatoes
For the evening dinner we boiled some of our harvest and had them with a vegetarian roast. They were delicate and creamy. They tasted all the better for having grown them ourselves.
Day Thirteen: Monday.
Sadly the weather has taken a turn for the worse, even this poor buff tailed bumblebee was having trouble today. David rescued her/him from the yarden floor and the jaws of Artie and fed it some sugar solution. After a while it perked up and flew away. Later on I saw another bee busily enjoying an oriental poppy.
Ornamental Poppy
I also managed to do another bee count, in between the showers. Within a minute I got a tally of three!
I decided to write a short creative passage around wild swimming. I didn’t intend for it to become so morbid… sorry!
On a frosty winter’s day. Erin dipped her toe into the water and shivered as the delicious cold touched her skin. She often wondered if her sister had felt the same sensation before she slipped eternally into the dark abyss. Perhaps her depression had steeled her against the cold? Either way Erin gasped as she stepped in.
‘What torments brought you to these waters?’ She thought, finding herself waist deep in the lake. ‘If only I could have helped.’ She swam through the icy water towards a small island, a tangle of tree branches and sandy shores.
During the summer holidays, Erin and her younger sister, Elise used to swim out towards the island. The warm waters suspended their sun kissed limbs as they splashed headlong towards an adventure of exploring over rock and under root.
Erin, felt her teeth chatter as she breaststroked through the choppy waters. Erin didn’t mind, she was a strong swimmer. Elise too, but on that fateful day she chose to succumb. ‘It’s very easy to get cramp,’ their swimming instructor had prophesied. ‘If you don’t respect the water or your ability, tragedy can happen.’ Erin swam on until a man’s voice from the lakeside beckoned tensely.
‘What are you doing?’ She turned, noticing her funeral garb heaped on the shingle shore. The waters caressed her breasts, stroked seductively between her legs. She saw Josh standing at the lakeside. In his hand he held the length of his black tie. His shoes discarded.
‘I’m okay!’ Erin called through the drizzle. She looked at Josh as she treaded water. She felt the love Elise had felt for him. Watched as he disregarded his mourning clothes and lunged into the lake. His arms were strong as he crawled towards her, while she felt cradled in the waters embrace.
Erin recalled the last time she and Elise swam together in the lake. Elise had been no older than eleven. They both lay on their backs looking up at the blue cloudless sky. Swallows skirted over the water catching flies, and laughter tinged the air with joyful exuberance. Elise had been so full of life. Her death remained inexplicable.Â
‘Come back to shore.’ Erin felt Josh’s arms embrace her. They were becoming shrouded in a mist that rolled down from the mountains. ‘You’ll get hypothermia.’ Josh reached for Erin’s hand. They swam alongside each other back towards the shore.
Erin’s body ached with the cold as she walked out of the water. She looked into Josh’s dark eyes that searched her face for a reason. ‘I just felt like a swim.’
‘In this weather?’ She felt Josh’s warm lips on hers. ‘I don’t want to lose you too.’ He threw his jacket over Erin’s shoulders before hurrying her towards their hotel where Elise’s wake was winding down. With luck, Erin’s disappearance had gone undetected and they could creep inside unseen.
A warm light flooded from the hotel doorway, and bathed their heads in a golden glow. Josh took Erin’s hand in his and they both walked into the light.Â
Summary:
I have taken things much slower this week. Perhaps a bit too slow. Most days haven’t been really ‘wild.’ I have enjoyed doing the creative activities, like molding bread into turtles and even drawing the dunnock, I found relaxing.
I wonder what discoveries week three of 30 Days Wild will uncover? At some point, I am hoping to go looking for moths and perhaps a wild swim will feature, who knows? I hope you will join me in my forthcoming adventures…
We parked the car at Torver Village Hall, where they asked for a £3 donation. There was free parking further along the road, but as the day progressed they became very busy.
It was a perfect winters day, save for the bone chilling wind and the bright sunlight that seared the backs of our retinas.
I can’t believe how quickly the first week of 
Christine Lucas 