Julia Garner

Saturday, 4 January 2020

A lichen boulder

On the way down from the Dry Gill shales we found this gorgeous boulder. It seemed a shame not to see the photos individually rather than bunged into the previous blog as a block of four.

Friday, 3 January 2020

Dry Gill shales and trilobites

An annual trip, in cold weather, up to the Dry Gill shales ....and this year it was very productive!

The track from Calebreck that leads onto Low and High Pike.

General views.

The Dry Gill shales.

Left: Trinucleus trilobite: a similar species of trilobite and the original identification (mis-identification) of the common Broeggerolithus nicholsoni, right: the some of the specimens.

Some of the best trilobite fragments (the majority being from B. nicholsoni, with the top right being a different species).

A poorly preserved brachiopod.

Great Print Exhibition 2019/2020 Rheged

An excellent exhibition - if you get the chance - go! Here are a few of my personal favourites.

Angie Lewin.

Colin Blanchard.

Carrie Akroyd ...of all the prints the one on the left is the one I'd have purchased.

Sally Winter.

Sarah Ross-Thompson.

Tim Slatter.

Susan Dobson.

Thursday, 2 January 2020

What a cracking round this is! On New Year's Eve we parked up in Patterdale, opposite the hotel (parking £4.50 - cheap for the Lakes), where the path to Arnison Crag goes through the back of the property and out onto the open fell. A quick step up onto the crag affords good views down Ullswater. Then a nice path down and across and up the wall to Birks - a steep ascent. Then following the obvious path along to St Sunday Crag with great views across to Helvellyn - plenty of people on Striding Edge! The wind was strong and pretty cold, but there was a lovely spot coming off St Sunday Crag where there was a lull and the opportunity for lunch. Then down to the col before a really nice scramble onto the summit of Fairfield...apparently there was an easier route. The top was pretty cloudy though, with plumes and swirls of cloud coming over the top from the southwest. As we dropped onto Hart Crag we began to get the feeling it was worth while keeping the camera out of its bag incase of brocken spectres and we weren't disappointed - one appeared about 5 times phasing in and out - spectacular! After Hart Crag we had to descend onto Hartsop above How, but the cloud was freezing onto the rocks which made it treacherous underfoot, so a slow and careful descent down to Deepdale. This was a really gentle and pleasant route down. We arrived back at the car just as it got dark - 14 miles and 3495 feet of ascent with a good helping of great views and scrambly bits!