5 Reasons to Love Autumn

Start chatting to a Brit and chances are within about 30 seconds the talk will turn to the weather, and it's never usually positive.  It's always either too hot, too cold, too windy, too dry or too wet.  The thing about the weather is that whatever you think about it isn't going to change what it is or what it's doing, so you may as well figure out a way to enjoy it whatever it's up to.

So, as Autumn gains momentum, here are a few of the reasons I love the season so much.

1. The Colours - there is not a more colourful season to be had.  A crisp autumn day is an assault on the senses with the crunching of the leaves underfoot, the tingling of your nose in the cold air and the vibrant colours all around you.  Stunning.

Horse Chestnut - Kendal

Langdale Valley

Lancashire lovliness

More from Kendal

Beautiful grasses at Burns Beck Moss

Hutton Roof Crags

Water lillies at Burns Beck Moss

2. Nature's Bounty - with so many amazing fruits and berries around it would be a sin not to use them, and there are only so many crumbles you can eat...

We didn't eat these, but they are still pretty.

Roll on Christmas!

The Life Cycle of the apple, from tree to car...

From car to pulp...

From pulp to press...

From press to juice...

From juice to cider.

3. The wildlife - or more specifically, starling murmurations.  If you've not seen one before, make this year the one when you do.  Leighton Moss has a stunning display every autumn.

4. The weather - cold crisp mornings, inversions, the stunning pale blue sky...

The snows started in early Nov in 2012

Stormy rainbows over Luce Bay

Crisp blue skies over the Langdale Pikes

An early autumn inversion over Windermere

5. The lovely warm pubs...  If it all turns nasty, then there's always a friendly pub with a welcoming fire where you can warm up, dry out and sample the local produce...

And if you're itching to get into the outdoors now - here are 5 Fabulous Autumn Walks in Cumbria.

A year in the Lake District (Part 2 Jul - Dec)

And so our journey through the past 12 months in the Lake District continues.  We've tried to do more than just hike the fells (not that there's anything wrong with that!) and during the second half of the year in particular we've tried to learn more about the wildlife.  (And if you missed Part 1 it's here.)

July

The beautiful Ullswater taken from St Sunday Crag.  A wonderful walk and a fabulous place for lovely quartz crystals - just look down when you're on the summit.

Ullswater from St Sunday Crag.

Our next walk was far more humble; a few miles along the river Kent near Kendal, but there was still plenty to see: remains of an old fort, wonderful bridge, sewage works...

River Kent, Kendal

And lastly we visited the wonderful Sizergh Castle.  We don't get out to nearly enough of these places and our new year's resolution is to visit more.  Especially if they have daisies...

Gorgeous daisies at Sizergh Castle.

August

Although we'd been to a few RSPB sites we were now really making an effort to get to grips with learning which birds are which, though the pesky varmints don't often stay still long enough for us to ID them.  Thank goodness for Steve and his camera!

Marsh Harrier over Leighton Moss

We also took advantage of a brief dry spell (!) to try and get to the top of the Howitzer on Helm Crag.  One of us made it, the other chickened out and took the pictures...

Steve on the top of the Howitzer

And then came a lovely sunny bank holiday Monday.  The fells were packed solid with hikers but we found miles and miles of peace and quiet along the lovely Cumbria coastline.

Cartmel Sands, not long before we stopped for 2 essential pints of fluid...

September

Following on from the Olympics a touch of cycling greatness came to Cumbria when the Tour of Britain can zooming through.  Shame about the weather...

A rather soggy Bradley Wiggins...

We also encountered some local wildlife up close when we paused to take some scenic shots at a popular layby next to Coniston.

"Excuse me, would you mind terribly if we came by?"

And then there was the wonderful Easedale Tarn.  It was utterly deserted and we had loads of fun chucking rocks in and playing with the cameras.  The route up wasn't bad either.

Easedale Tarn.

Easedale Tarn & amazing levitating rock!

October

With the beautiful autumn colours in full swing where else to enjoy them than the wonderful Langdale Valley?

Langdale Pikes - not shrouded in mist!

And just behind us was Blea Tarn.

Blea Tarn looking lovely as ever.

We also nipped over the border to Scotland for a fab weekend of hiking, cycling & starry, starry skies.

Delores - all cosy for the night.

November

A busy month for us where we got to see our first starling murmuration.

And we got up close with assorted other small birds.

Coal tit (I think..)

Nuthatch

We also had the first snow of the season so it was straight up the Old Man to play!

There were several clues telling us we weren't alone up there...

And the snow looked pretty impressive from afar too; this was the view from the back of Whitbarrow Scar.

Whitbarrow is wonderfully deserted but has spectacular views.

December

And here we are - the end of the year already.  See what I mean when I say it's flown by?  At the start of the month we skidded our way around the Langdale Pikes.

Gorgeous to look at, treacherous to walk on.

And then we kept it a little lower when we visited Wansfell Pike.

It may have been lower than the Langdales but it was still frozen.

We don't get a lot of hiking in during the second half of the month as we tend to spend as much of it was we can catching up with family.  But the fells will still be waiting for us in January.  Unless of course the Mayans were right all along...

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A VERY HAPPY & SAFE NEW YEAR!

Legless in the Lakes (Day 1)

Cumbria from Hest Bank (plus seagull)

Not what you think.  Well, not exactly.  Mum's visiting at the moment and she's non too clever on her feet meaning we're having to discover all the things you can do in and around the "adventure capital of England" which don't involve hills or hiking so, I thought I'd go back to the roots of the blog and keep a daily blog of the stuff we're finding to do for those who can't go zooming up and down the fells.

So where did day 1 find us headed?  To kick off with we decided to make like a bird and head south.  I'm used to just slinging a rucksack together and heading for the hills so was unprepared for the additional time it takes to get everyone into the car.  We were finally all on board by 11:42 and, leaving Grange we headed south towards Heysham.  By the time we reached Hest Bank (12:15) the cry went up "well i think it's about time for a drink - who fancies a drink?"  For a blissful moment the image of a G&T flashed through my mind before I remembered I was driving (to be fair, the steering wheel in my hand had been my first clue.).  Time to put all my negotiation skills into practice - I countered with an offer of a fabulous view followed by extraordinary tea and cakes at a fabulous little place I knew later.  Thankfully it worked and we journeyed onwards...

Heysham tombs

Our legless tour took us first to Hest Bank to admire the views across to Cumbria, then to Heysham (via Eric Morecambe - who can miss him?) to admire the tombs (and the views across to Cumbria.).  The Heysham tombs require a short walk, but nothing too taxing and if you've got someone in the party in a wheelchair it's an easy push - well until you get to the church, but I guess you could always park at the gates and pray for a miracle.  There are several boards giving you useful information on the site and when you're done with those there are the spectacular views across the bay to keep your attention.  As final resting places go, it's not a bad one, though maybe a bit parky in the winter.

Leaving Heysham we headed north towards Leghton Moss - the promised land of coffee and cakes.  Even if you're not members it's free to look around the shop or nip up to the fabulous cafe.  We enjoyed a wonderful bowl of homemade mushroom soup and a roll and those members of the party with the sweet tooth forced themselves to sample the cakes, all in the interests of this blog of course; now that's true sacrifice.  Although the cafe is upstairs there's a stairlift for those who need it plus wheel chairs to get around the reserve.  After a quick visit to Lillian's Hide to look for the Bittern (again) where we failed (again) we headed back to get a ringside seat for the starlings (again).  This time we didn't fail and the starlings put on a spectacular show before hunkering down in the reed beds for the evening.

Starlings murmurating...

All done we headed for home, via Grange Christmas tree - the largest, living, lit Christmas tree in England I'm led to believe.  Sightseeing all done we made it home in time for a suitably festive movie and that G&T I'd been hallucinating about since lunchtime... 

Bittern Spotting for Beginners.

The beautiful Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve

We’re novice bird watchers but learning fast (does that make us fledglings?) and thoroughly enjoy a few hours pootling from hide to hide around the reserve.  At this time of year there are many migrating species moving through the region so there’s a lot to keep up with, and each time we visit we usually see something new.  This time we spotted Teal (very pretty little ducks), Pochard (very pretty slightly larger ducks), Shovellers (duck sized but huge bills) and Marsh Harriers (very large and not at all duck like).  However our mission was threefold: to see a murmuration of Starlings, to see (or even hear) a Bittern and to see the resident Otters.  It’s fair to say our success in these missions was, at best, patchy.

This is not a Bittern.

First up the Starlings.  As we arrived a couple of hours before dusk we got lucky with this one and, although comparatively small compared to what it apparently grows to later in the season, we did indeed see a minor murmuration.  However small the flock it’s still quite breath-taking to see them swoop, switch and dive in unison with no collisions; far better choreographed than the dance routines most people were watching on TV that evening.  Pretty soon they settled down to roost amongst the reed beds with their distinctive chirping. Oddly this is a sound which always reminds me of Birmingham because, as a child, when we visited Birmingham (to see Santa in Rackhams) the starlings would be roosting in the bank opposite the ramp leading into New Street station, so their sound has always held magical connections for me.  (Not often Birmingham is described as being magical).  So, mission one accomplished.

Mission two: the Bittern.  One of the rarest birds in Britain these creatures are usually heard rather than seen and have a distinctively deep, booming call.  This is good to know, but not all that helpful when you don’t know what their “deep, booming call” actually sounds like.  We got excited at several “deep, booming” calls which disappointingly turned out to be (in order) a cow, a rutting stag and a distant tractor.   We may be fledglings but we clearly have much to learn.   We read the info board which, helpfully, had a large picture of them and pointers as to when was the best time to see them.  Dusk is best apparently, around the edges of the reeds.  They’d been seen that day but sadly didn't make an appearance for us.  That said the info board also said they were “masters of disguise” so I tried to convince Steve I’d seen one disguised as a swan.  He didn't believe me.

This is also not a Bittern.

And lastly the otters.  Or rather, not the otters for they too assiduously avoided us.  They had apparently been out partying in the sunlight for the hordes of observers earlier in the day but when we arrived, sitting stock still and silently sipping tea in the Lower Hide, they stubbornly refused to reappear.  We’d been told to watch the other birds for clues as to the location of the otters, which conjured up images in my mind of a row of Warner Brothers style ducks sitting bolt upright holding “Otters this way” signs.  It seems I misunderstood.

And this most certainly isn't a Bittern.

There were many fantastic things we did see though; on our way to Lower Hide we stopped to watch a group of deer, including a stag, grazing and then lying in the warm afternoon sun.  They knew we were there but were far enough away to not be too troubled by our presence.  As I mentioned before we were lucky enough to see the Marsh Harrier again swooping around and I’m sure someone claimed that the large bird we saw chasing some of the Starlings was a Peregrine, but I could be very wrong about that.  We also saw a huge flock of Little Egrets gathered in the trees at the far side of the lake; at least 30 when we tried to count them, though they’re fidgety things and didn't hold still long enough for us to get a more accurate count. 

My very best shot of the suspected Bearded Tit.
Whaddya mean "it's a bit dark"?!

And did we see a Bearded Tit?  Well, on our way back to the car in the late dusk we spotted a small bird pecking around in the gravel ahead of us, very near to the gravel trays.  It didn’t seem too jumpy and, had it not been really rather dark by this point, we’d have probably gotten quite a nice pic, but as it was all we had to go on was its silhouette and, let’s face it, we can’t spot a Bittern in broad daylight so our chances of identifying this were non-existent.  As we reached the car it was getting quite dark and all we could hear away in the distance were owls calling to each other – another bird we could add to the “heard but not seen list”.  At least we think it was an owl, it could have been a distant train, or a car alarm, or a mobile phone, or a… 

About not going to Harrogate.

I tried it without the wellies - too cold!

Like several million other people we didn’t go to Harrogate this weekend, but unlike many of them we very nearly did.  I finally had the rare opportunity to take a short break and I really fancied being looked after for the weekend, nothing too pampery, just  not doing the cooking would do me fine.  Spa weekends and the like have never appealed; the very idea of being half naked while a complete stranger smears expensive goo about my person doesn’t make it anywhere near my list of “relaxing pass-times".  In fact someone kindly bought me a voucher for a pamper experience once; I came out more stressed than I went in and very nearly punched the masseuse.  Anyway, back to Harrogate, or not as the case may be.

Oi!

We tried all of those “last minute” sites but none of them seemed to have particularly good deals; a little digging soon showed that their “very special, once in a lifetime, never to be repeated oh my god it’s amazing” deal was in fact very similar to their “this is our usual rate” deal except it was written in red and had the rather misleading words “special offer” written in front of it.  The final nail in Harrogate’s coffin was when we decided to bite the bullet and click the “book now” button for one hotel, only to be told on the very next page that an additional £68.72 had now been added in “taxes and fees”. My stress levels reached a new high as I hurled some very rude words at the laptop and shelved the whole idea.  Or at least the idea of Harrogate.  As we still wanted to head off we decided to forget the notion of being looked after in any way, dust Delores down and head for the border.

Finest view of the weekend?

We managed to get her ready in double quick time and were soon on our way towards Luce Bay, or more specifically the CC site at New England Bay on the far side of Luce Bay some distance south of Stranraer.  Some of you may remember when we visited here before during our Great North Fun tour when I vowed and declared I never wanted to leave and if you’ve ever been there you’ll understand why.  It’s funny isn’t it when you think you want one thing (Harrogate) but in reality what you actually need is something else entirely.  Our weekend was truly idyllic and here’s why.

Rainbows.  The weather had been squally the whole way up and about 20 mins after we arrived there was a heavy downpour.  No major concern as we were already snuggled up inside with a cup of tea and a biccie.  We’d positioned Delores to make the most of the stunning sea views and a couple of moments later 2 of the most amazing rainbows I’ve ever seen popped up over the bay.  Tea mugs (and biscuits) were quickly discarded as we raced out with our cameras to admire it close up and try and get some shots.  Not a bad start really.

Not a bad start.

If only we had a boat to find the pot of gold...

Aha!

Celestial bodies.  Being on the very edge of Dumfries & Galloway the site benefits from being incredibly dark which means there are excellent views of the night sky.  On our first night the moon rose at the same time as Jupiter making for some dramatic shots.  The only downside to the moon being up so early was that it was so bright that it made the Milky Way a little tricky to see.  No problems the second night when a later moon rise and a completely cloudless sky gave us ample opportunity to try and enjoy the incredible night sky.  Billions of stars with the Milky Way arcing up and over Delores in spectacular fashion made  us all feel very tiny indeed.

Milky Way

Moon (seriously - you needed a caption for that?)

Milky Way

Neptune. Ha! Kidding.  It's the moon again.

Delores & moonrise.

Sunrise.  Steve’s not much of a morning person, but the combination of a cat jumping on his head and a few golden strands of sunlight seeping through the blinds were enough to lure him outside and onto the beach uncharacteristically early.  I followed soon behind having paused to make us a flask of coffee and a bite to eat.  There’s nothing quite like watching sunrise from the beach with hot coffee and a warm egg and bacon roll.  The beauty of this secluded spot is that apart from the odd dog walker we had the place to ourselves.  An hour or so later it was all done and we were back in the van before the clouds and a little light drizzle appeared.  As I made my way across to the campsite shop one cheery camper greeted me with a “miserable morning isn’t it?”  I would have told him it was beautiful at sunrise but I didn’t think I could cope with the chirpy company the next morning if he decided to join us.

"Miserable morning"

Do I smell coffee & bacon?

Wildlife.  As you may know we’ve teamed up with CumbriaWildlife Trust and are currently on a mission to learn more about wildlife so we thought we’d see what Scotland had to offer.  Plenty as it happens.  For starters the campsite is teeming with bunnies; hundreds of them everywhere driving all the local dogs to distraction and providing Monty with plenty to peer at as he surveyed his surroundings.  On our first day we cycled down to the Mull of Galloway and back via Port Logan; a 20 mile hilly route not made any easier by my bike deciding to lose half its gears.  No matter, the trip was more than worth it.  We ate lunch sat on a cliff top watching gannets, gulls, shags and harbour porpoises diving in and out of the choppy waters before stuffing ourselves with hot chocolate and cream scones at the rather splendid visitors centre.  Then on towards Port Logan; we stopped along the way to watch a small murmuration of starlings swooping and diving over a freshly cut field of hay – a first for both of us.  They were joined by a large flock of crows and a fair smattering of pigeons – not a combination of birds I was expecting, but wonderful to watch nonetheless.

Starlings.

Starlings & a few crows.

Port Logan.

Harbour Porpoise

The next evening the seas were completely calm and as we sat on the beach (again) with our coffee (again) we watched a shag flying low across the water as he made several trips to and fro across the bay.  A few other birds pottered around overhead and then a solitary seal made an appearance, lazily bobbing around, keeping a nosey eye on what we were up to and seemingly enjoying the quiet calm of the evening.  As the evening wore on and the stars began to appear we could hear a flock of birds nearby; no idea what they were but they made a distinctive chirrupy chirping noise that went on well after dark.

Birds.  Not sure which ones...

Curlews!

Seal.  Not crazy.

Luce Bay

Balancing Stones.  We've seen the arty photos of balancing stones on a beach so decided to have a go ourselves.  Hmmmmm...  Really not as easy as it looks.  These "towers" may look simple but they took ages to balance, and all the while the tide was coming in and getting higher and higher up my wellies...

Ta daa!

Ta daaaa again!

Delores.  Ever since we moved from the campsite at Silverdale, having lived in her for best part of 3 months, she’s been woefully underused thanks to work commitments and wrangling with our dodgy tenant and eventual house sale down south.  With all of that now blissfully behind us and my permanent work commitments coming to an end, we’re looking forward to spending much more time touring the country and seeing what the UK has to offer.  Great adventures don’t necessarily require you to travel to the far side of the world; our aim is to explore just what amazing sights and adventures are available right on our doorstep.  Who knows, one day we may even make it to Harrogate, though I think we’ll give the hotels a miss.