New workshops

A few of my followers have asked that I put advance notice of forthcoming workshops on the blog - so here we go! These are workshops, run under the umbrella of The Northern Fells, and are usually limited to 8 places, so booking is essential. For those of you that know me contact me directly and I'll keep an eye out in the comments section on the blog for those that haven't got my details. You can also find me on fb at Julia Garner Arts.

The sessions are all from 10 - 12:30 and cost £10 including materials.   

The Old Crown-Hesket Newmarket
Tuesday 14th Sept: Lino cutting
Tuesday 21st September: Lino cutting (2 colours)
Tuesday 12th October: Gelli printing
Tuesday 19th October: Gelli printing (Paper or fabric)

Bolton Low Houses, Village Hall 
Thursday 16th September: Gelli printing

Thursday 23rd September: Gelli printing (Paper or fabric)

Thursday 14th and Friday 15th October: Needle feltd pumkin(s)

Gelli printing 

Gelli printing workshop results.

First attempts at lino.

Needle felted pumpkins. 

Some alternative pumpkins ....

Brae Fell, Little Sca Fell, Lowthwaite Fell and Longlands

The cloud was down today, but briefly rose just above the tops of the Northern Fells, so a quick nip round behind the house - just a few wafts of drizzle. 

Brae Fell.

Towards Overwater and Bassenthwaite with Binsey middle distance.

From Little Sca Fell.

Little Sca Fell.

Lowthwaite Fell.

Across to Longlands.

Longlands with Overwater and Binsey.

Skiddaw Little Man and Lonscale Fell

Another two Wainwrights knocked off for me, so down to the last three now...  The day was set fare but the cloud was down and although it began to rise as we descended it didn't leave the tops - hence t he misty moisty views! An enjoyable walk and given it was bank holiday Sunday we didn't see many people; infact no one on Lonscale Fell. 

Low cloud cloaking Skiddaw.

Derwentwater .... before we went into the cloud.

View from Skiddaw Little Man and the summit.
The path to Lonscale fell and summit. 

Descent off Lonscale Fell. 

Looking across High Rigg towards Thirlmere.

Skiddaw.

Views  from Latrigg - we did a detour on the way back to the car....and below too. 

Two new oils....

In between having a good time and planning future workshops I have managed to do two new oils based on recent walks - there's a way to go in building up some stock, but it's a start! 

Swineside - with the river Caldew in spate. 

From Holme Crag near Consiton, looking into the Langdales. 

High Spy and Maiden Moor

With the glorious weather, a pleasent reminder that August can be nice, it was an early start for a carparking place at Little Town. So we left at 7:30 to arrive just after 8 and rather conveniently the farm on the right as you go into Little Town now allows parking for £5 for the day...and it's more or less opposite the track up to Hause Gate - which is signed with a finger post. Newlands valley, in these Covid times, has been turned into a giant campsite with every field hosting campers....  We did wonder if the fells would be crowded and given it was bank holiday weekend, slightly concerned that venturing into Central Lakes may have been a mistake, but we literally only saw may be 15 people on Maiden Moor and High Spy - Catbells later on as we came down was a different matter - fortunately though we weren't going that way! Cracking views and a great ridge walk - so much so that rather than descending to Dale Head tarn and  the valley track for our return route, we retraced our steps along the ridge.

Arriving at Hause Gate looking back across Newlands.

looking up Borrowdale.

Derwentwater.

From Maiden Moor towards Catbells.

High Spy summit cairn.

Looking across to Dale Head.

Grass of Parnassus and bog bean

Apart from being the flower on Cumberland's flag, grass of Parnassus, is one of my favourites ...although it does signal that summer is coming to an end. There was plenty out on High Rigg the other day....

Some of the boggy bits on High Rigg would have been fabulous for bog bean ...although not in flower - I like the reflections.

High Rigg, St John's in the Vale

Another, this time lower level walk, ticking off another Wainwright for us - but not the dog as he only has Loughrigg to do. A lovely ridge walk with good views - lots of craggy undulations and good views. 

Looking down Thirlmere after we reached the ridge having come up through the woodland. 

Looking along the ridge with High Rigg summit at the far end and Skiddaw in the background. 

Posing! 

Looking towards the summit and Blencathra.

The summit cairn.

Looking back ot the summit. 

Wasp spider at Egham toad ponds

From Tom: Certainly deserving of her own blog post, one of the highlights to my visit to the toad ponds was this beautiful female wasp spider. Becoming more frequent in southern Britain, the species first arrived from the continent in 1922.

Lankrigg, Crag Fell and Grike

An enjoyable round behind Ennerdale, yesterday, taking in three new Wainwrights. We parked on the roadside above Ennerdale Bridge at Scaly Moss (plenty of parking). Then we took the track off the road at Whorl Gill to Whoap Beck and then back onto Lankrigg. We then went onto Whoap, before descending to the wall and across the now deforested area and onto Crag Fell. The path then goes onto Grike, before dropping down onto the track  that returns back to the car at Scaly Moss. Cracking views....

The tarn on the top of Lankrigg with Pillar, Steeple, Haycock and Caw Fell. 

Looking back at hte summit of Lankrigg.

Lankrigg...

Overlooking Ennerdale from Crag Fell.

A glorious panorama.

Grike summit.