The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England.
A popular holiday destination, it's famous for its lakes, forests and mountains (or fells) and its associations with the early 19th century writings of William Wordsworth and the other Lake Poets, Beatrix Potter and John Ruskin.
Covering an area of approximately 912 square miles, the region was designated a national park on 9 May 1951 and was an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017.
It's located entirely within the county of Cumbria, and all the land in England higher than 3,000 ft above sea level lies within the National Park, including Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England.
It also contains the deepest and longest bodies of water in England, respectively Wast Water and Windermere.
On my trip to the Lake District the weather was not kind to us, so unfortunately my images lack any WOW factor. Such is the 'joy' of landscape photography.
Rydal Water is one of the smallest lakes at 3/4 mile long, 1/4 mile wide and with a depth of 55 ft, but it is very popular partly because of its Wordsworth connections.
Ashness Bridge is a traditional stone-built bridge on the B5289 single-track road, and is famous for being a fine viewpoint across Borrowdale towards Skiddaw.
Surprise View just a little further on from Ashness Bridge, up the hill to experience the rewards of Surprise View, perched high on an oak-lined cliff edge overlooking the whole of Derwentwater.
On a clear day you can even spot Bassenthwaite lake in the distance (not so when I was there)!
Aira Force is a spectacular waterfall along the river Aira Beck.
1/2 mile before entering a lake, the beck makes the 66 ft leap down a rocky and steep sided ravine at the falls known as Aira Force.
The river name Aira is derived from Old Norse 'eyrr' (a gravel bank), and Old Norse 'รก' (a river), hence 'the river at the gravel bank'.
The Old Norse word 'fors' (waterfall), has been adopted into several northern English dialects and is widely used for waterfalls, with the English spelling 'Force'. Thus, 'the waterfall on gravel bank river'.
Blea Tarn can be dramatically beautiful, one of the Lake District's innumerable small tarns, and occupies a ridge between Little Langdale Valley and Dungeon Ghyll in Great Langdale.
The name 'blea' derives from dark blue, and the tarn stands 700 ft above sea level.
On the early morning we were there, the sun rose behind clouds unforunately.
Buttermere is a lake 1.25 miles by 0.25 miles wide, 75 ft deep, at an elevation above sea level of 329 ft.
A place of considerable scenic value, it's situated towards the head of the valley of the River Cocker and is surrounded by fells, notably the High Stile range to the south west, Robinson to the north east, Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks to the south east and Grasmoor to the north west.
Honister Pass is a mountain pass located on the B5289 road, linking Seatoller, in the valley of Borrowdale, to Gatesgarth at the southern end of Buttermere. The pass reaches an altitude of 1,167 ft, making it one of the highest in the region, and also one of the steepest, with gradients of up to 1-in-4.
Located at the top of the pass is a slate mine.
Honister Pass holds the UK 24-hour rainfall record; in the 24 hours to 6 pm on 5 December 2015, 14 in of rain fell there.
