Whilst mooching around the home, I casually looked at the weather apps, they all indicated favourable conditions for mist and possible inversions around the Lake District the following morning.
I was eager to follow the indications of the weather forecast, but where to go, I had recently spent a morning in the Lorton Valley in misty conditions, Ambleside was visited last week, so where to go?
I decided to play it by ear! get in the car and drive towards Keswick and see what the conditions were looking like.
As I dove past Embleton, not much sign of mist, my enthusiasm was draining, onwards towards Bassenthwaite Lake, and my fists sign of mist, my enthusiasm returns, within no time, I was driving under a thick blanket of mist or cloud, no visibility of the surrounding hills, and less than 150 meters of visibility up the road.
Time to reduce the speed as it was becoming a serous peasouper, even in these conditions, drivers were flying past me at ridiculous speeds driving into a wall of unknowns.
I reached Keswick and stopped to take stock of what was around me, thick mist horizontally, but still no sight of any of the surrounding fells. Racking my brain, I decided to get up high, in the hope that I could get above the mist, Ashness was the closest road which would enable me to do this, so this is where I was heading. Even driving along the shore of Derwent Water Catbells was not visible.
As I began to gain height up towards Ashness bridge, the mist was still very thick, over the bridge I went and continued up towards Surprise View, I passed Ashness farm on my left and I was still in the mist, but then suddenly as I gained a little more height, I came out of the mist to a clear autumnal morning. I was intrigued to see what the conditions were going to be like at Surprise View, would I be above the mist, or still entwined in its grasp.
As I approached the viewpoint, having parked the car, I was gobsmacked at the scene in front of me, the whole of the Borrowdale valley was smothered in a sold blanket of mist, nothing was visible in the valley for as far as the eye could see. Time to get the camera out and find some compositions.
It was 10 minutes before sunrise, so the light was flat with little contrast, it was surly just a waiting game for the light to hit the masses of mist from above?
Patience was the name of the game now, lets just wait and see what develops, a fellow photographer joined me at this time, he being set up at the opposite end of the viewpoint.
I began by taking a series of panoramic shots of Maiden Moor and Catbells to show the intensity of the inversion, even though there was no real light on the fells at this time. This method would be my composition of choice for the remained of my time here, as I was struggling to capture the story of the conditions in one standard 3 x4 frame.
Then, wowsers, as the light began to impact on the views in front of me, some lovely light in the sky contrasted with the light being bounced off the layer of mist in the valley. There was some lovely light and mist conditions around the Skiddaw range, but I was frustrated not to be able to shoot the full length of the hills as I was being blocked off by the encroaching trees and bushes close by. Not to be disappointed, I shot what I could in the hope of being able to create some decent images from those that I took.
The conditions were stunning when looking towards Bassenthwaite Lake the only land I could see was Swinside poking through the solid layer of mist in the centre of the scene, Skiddaw range to the east, and the Cumbrian Mountains to the East, everything else was hidden from view.
The sun was getting higher in the sky by this point, further enhancing the magical conditions which I was witnessing, I just kept taking shots.
Soon it was over, the light was becoming very intense and hard, but the inversion was still 100%, as I had been snapping away for over a hour, I had a thought in my head, what kind of conditions would there be at Ashness Bridge, there was mist adoring it on my earlier drive up, so off I set to bomb down the hill and see what greeted me.
I was well please when I got there, the mist was swirling around, clearing then closing in in. Ideal conditions for trying my hand at some woodland photography, now, I am by no-means competent at this genre of photography, but I had to give it a go.
I even got an unusual set of images of the Ashness Bridge looking towards Keswick, with nothing in the background but mist, the autumnal coloured trees helped make the images though.
I went for a little trek around the area, having the place to myself, and found several shots of things like spider’s webs covered in due and back-light, I also found several interesting woodland shots
From Ashness Bridge I decided to head down to the lake to see if the mists had lifted a little and was hopeful of finding something interesting.
Isthmus Bay was my location, and I was happy to find that the mists had in fact dispersed from the lake area, but was still prevalent higher up along the fells, the sun was breaking through which was creating some nice light, calm conditions so the water was reasonably calm, and on my jack jones again.
Time to get snapping, not long after, I noticed that the lake launches were running, with the mist creating a rather surreal image as they sailed into, and out of the mist, I was on to this right away as I thought that these would make interesting images.
The autumnal coloured trees on the opposite shore of the lake created an interesting backdrop for a couple of photos when contrasting against the whiteness of the mist and the water.
After a hour or so at this location, the light was becoming hard, and the mists were slowly disappearing, the best conditions were behind us, so it was time to head home for a warm drink, some food, and to reflect on what had been an enjoyable 5 hours.
Thank you for taking the time to read about my adventures, I hope it brings some enjoyment to you, until next time, stay safe, and enjoy life.
