Kelly Hall Tarn and Coniston Shore - August 2020

Very long time no blog.  Again!

I have some serious catching up to do, and I figured it's probably easier to start with most recent walks, whilst I can still (just about) remember them.

So, first up is Kelly Hall Tarn and the south west shore of Coniston, which John and I visited on 

a gorgeous Saturday morning in August 2020.  We were meeting friends of mine from Uni days, and adopted the appropriate socially distanced pleasantries required.  The Lake District was packed, even by 09.30 (we assume to be due to the increased holidaying in the UK this year - thanks Covid-19), and so we were glad to have chosen a location which was fairly remote. We didn't meet many other folk at all, which worked out well - it's hard to keep 2 metres away, on a thin woodland path!

Despite running into some more rural forms of traffic en route there...

...we were sufficiently removed from the lake shore, and were able to park with no problems (- in the small area over the road from the Landrover salesroom near Torver, if you're interested).  30 seconds later and we were greeted with the beautiful Kelly Hall Tarn: small but perfectly formed, and very easy to photograph.  We reckoned you would be able to spend a day there, just capturing different angles in different lights, and would be hard-pressed to take a bad picture.

Which is a good job really, given what keen photographers my friends are!

Herewith some snaps of the tarn

We then sauntered (it was already too hot to do much faster than saunter) up to Long Moss:

and encountered a couple of these guys flitting around - they must have been as big as the palm of my hand - which, admittedly is not large compared to most palms, but was still shockingly sized to me.

We then headed further north, up to a point at which we could survey Coniston Water.  A very welcome sit down and natter ensued.

Looking North

Looking South

Looking South

We meandered (i.e. lost the path) through some woods, and down to the lake shore, which was another lovely stop off to cool down for a bit.

Then began our ascent back to the car.  This was aided by further shade and streams to soothe us.

Moor Gill

Looking South

Some sheep were more keen to be photographed than others

After some hard work going uphill in direct sunlight (in the middle of the day), which some of us endured rather than enjoyed, we were greeted by the beauty of Kelly Hall Tarn again.

And then we went our separate ways, although I can confirm both parties headed for tearooms ;-)

John and I enjoyed our lunch a great deal!

Right, I shall publish this forthwith, so as not to find it in 3 years' time, awaiting editing.  TTFN