Lake District March 2016. Day 3, Aira Force

Although still overcast, we woke to a better day today and after a very pleasant breakfast we set off for Rydal Mount to have a look at the 'Grot' and Rydal Falls.  The Grot was built in 1668 specifically to view the falls from it's window.  It was the height of the Romantic Picturesque.  Not only were people told what to look at, but how to look at it.  For all that, it is interesting and the falls are spectacular.  We also enjoyed looking at some work by a textile artist in a yurt and some examples were displayed as outdoor sculptures in the woods above the falls.

To View Large, Please Click on an Image.

By the time we had looked around Rydal Falls the sun had come out and we returned to Ambleside and drove up The Struggle to the Kirkstone Pass.  I can testify to it being a struggle as, when Thomas and I road the off road Coast to Coast route several years ago we cycled up here; well Thomas cycled, I pushed a lot of it.  Once at the top of the pass we drove down to Brotherswater, stopping for some shots of reflections in the lake and then on through Patterdale and Glenridding to Aira Force.  Signs of the December floods were everywhere: damaged buildings, hotels still closed and huge mounds of stones that had been swept down the fell sides by the torrential water.  Aira Force was quiet at the time we arrived and we enjoyed our walk up through the woods to the dramatic lower falls and up to the top falls before returning by a different path.  It was good to hear and see nuthatches and siskins as well as the more common tit species and chaffinches.  There are red squirrels here but we were unable to locate any.