A Week Of Walking

I was fortunate enough this year to escape for a week in the Lake District with my family during the glorious weather here in the UK in mid-July. Whilst I am looking forward to heading abroad again and experiencing new sights and cultures, the great English countryside certainly doesn’t disappoint. I have always been a country girl at heart, and there is no better way to switch off and relax than to immerse myself in nature, and the Lake District is a beautiful place to be able to do that. It is England’s largest national park at 2,292 square kilometres, and is home to England’s natural deepest and biggest lakes. It also boasts England’s highest peak, Scafell Peak (at 3210 feet), and it has inspired numerous artists, Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter alike, by its profound beauty and charm.

Whilst a day spent reading in the sunshine enjoying the views is a day well spent, we awoke early, laced up our walking boots and set off on a hike in the fells. We were based at Ullswater, in a small place called Howtown for the week, and the plethora of potential walks far surpassed the amount of time and energy we had to explore them all. This being said we did manage to walk over 75km and 3500m of elevation – not too shabby for a ‘holiday’ in the Lakes! As we were surrounded by the lake from multiple different directions, our aim was to explore as much as possible of the surrounding countryside and soak up the spectacular vistas. Every so often I would stop and admire the picture-postcard panoramas, composed of lake, hills and clear blue skies. I thought I’d share a few photos of our walks dispersed with a couple of my favourite poems and a haiku to try and paint you a picture of the wonder that is the Lake District, and England in the summer.

Summer Song

Wanderer moon
smiling a
faintly ironical smile
at this
brilliant, dew-moistened
summer morning,—
a detached
sleepily indifferent
smile, a
wanderer's smile,—
if I should
buy a shirt
your color and
put on a necktie
sky-blue
where would they carry me?

William Carlos Williams (1917)

Country

Vibrating green hills
Rolling beneath white billows
Dotting blue heavens

Caleb Wiloman

luscious ferns, rolling hills and blue water

668

Nature’ is what we see— 

The Hill—the Afternoon— 

Squirrel—Eclipse—the Bumble bee—

Nay—Nature is Heaven—

Nature is what we hear—

The Bobolink—the Sea—

Thunder—the Cricket—

Nay—Nature is Harmony—

Nature is what we know—

Yet have no art to say—

So impotent Our Wisdom is

To her Simplicity.

Emily Dickinson (around 1926)