An inverted blog about an inversion. (I'll let you work it out).

By 9:30am the inversion was pretty much over with the sun having warmed the clouds in the valleys enough for them to dissipate.  We made our way back to the car and dropped down to Fell Foot Park for a few shots of the early sun on the trees before heading home for hot bacon sarnies.  Fun?  Honestly, it’s the most fun I’ve had with all my clothes, thermals, and walking boots on.  The most fun thing ever?  Well now, that would be telling.

Looking south over Fell Foot Park

The only way I can possibly avoid one of the cardinal sins of writing (over use of adjectives) is to direct your attention to Steve's stunning photos and let you fill in the blanks yourself.  The views were breathtaking and with what little breath we had left we repeated again and again how lucky we are to have this on our doorstep.

By now it was gone 8am and the inversion was already clearing from the north end of the lake revealing Bowness in all its tacky glory.  (Sorry, I love the Lake District but have a hate/ hate relationship with Bowness.  It’s just another tourist town with the same old shops and I simply can’t see the appeal it holds for the gazillions of tourists who pack its streets every weekend.  Anyway, I digress...)

Unable to quite believe our luck we took a couple of shots near the car park before the short hike up Gummer’s How.  We were still very stiff and sore from our 7 hour marathon on Wetherlam the day before so it’s a testament to how gorgeous the views were that we barely noticed the pain.  At least not immediately, I certainly noticed it once we were sat at the top, but it’s amazing the effect a pre breakfast aperitif of ibuprofen and coffee can have.

Windermere Inversion & Old Man

So what is an inversion anyway?  Well, in simple terms, it’s when the air lower down is cooler than the air higher up and a cloud forms in the valley but not on the hillside.  If you’re down in the valley you’ll think it’s a soggy, cold, dank day but on the top of the hills it will be crystal clear and gorgeous.  Driving out the top of the inversion reminded me of when we popped out the top of the clouds on our flight to Dublin earlier this year, except this time we were in a crappy Ford Focus instead of a crappy Ryanair jet.

Gummer’s How is only 10 minutes drive from home but during that short time we went from glorious sunshine, as we drove over High Newton, to thick mist as we dropped down to Newby Bridge.  Out of the passenger window the most amazing views appeared as we drove up towards Gummer’s How car park and it was lucky that Steve was driving as he’s far less easily distracted than I am.  Had I been driving it’s entirely possible we would have become one with the view in an unintentional “Thelma and Louise” fashion.

We don’t do ‘early’, especially on Sundays, so when I woke at 7:30am and suggested to Steve that we do something fun then it’s entirely possible he got the wrong idea.  As I bounced out of bed and headed for the kitchen the realisation dawned on him that this was a new and previously unknown definition of the word “fun” that involved getting out of bed, going out into the cold and heading up a nearby hill.  The promise of seeing our first ever inversion and the lure bacon sarnies on our return worked wonders though and we were soon in the car and heading for Windermere.