It was 4am, there is only ever one 4 o’clock in a day and its not usually this one. This particular early start would be worth it though, a hike in the fells above the Haweswater Reservoir. Being a city boy at heart it always makes me think when I venture out into the countryside, it was pitch black, no lights, now to find my car.
You could say this was the main event of the weekend, this was getting up high, this was going to places I wouldn’t venture by myself. This was sunrise on the Nan Bield Pass and Harter Fell. I picked Chris up at the allotted time and we headed for the car park at the bottom on the road beside the Haweswater Reservoir. Not a soul was to be seen for quite a while. It felt good to be out, heading somewhere I’ve not been before. The beauty of hiking in the dark is that you cannot see what’s ahead of you. In my case a ruddy great climb, just as well I couldn’t see it, I just carried on walking.
We reached Smallwater and I was blown away by the view. “We’re not stopping here Steve”, was the refrain from Chris, but in all honesty I couldn’t see where we could possibly walk. There was a path, of course, not quite tarmac, but it was there. We criss crossed our way up the Nan Bield Pass, all the time the views getting better and better. We stopped for a breather, I was glad. The next stage up to the first viewing point was “off piste”, we had to climb over boulders, rocks, scraggy grasses. I did it, I arrived at the first viewing point, with time to spare to see the sun rising, what I sight!!.
My heart was pounding, my legs where aching, but all that effort was instantly worth it, when I pushed the shutter button on the pic you see above. What a sight that is. It’s hard to judge how high up this is from the image, but its a memory I will never forget thats for sure. This image was taken with my Sony Alpha 7 IV, with the 16 to 35mm f4 G lens, at 16mm, f11 with a shutter speed of 1/15th second. I like the simplicity of the composition, but what a bloody view that is!!
Once this shot was in the bag I was able to relax and start to take in what was happening around me. The sun was rising and bathing the fells with some lovely early morning light. This vantage point offered, quite a few compositions, both landscape and portrait. Having said that we were on a fell side, with the angle that is underfoot, the rocks and boulders under foot meant positioning the tripod was an interesting exercise, I was glad of the geared head. Fine tuning the composition is so much easier with the geared head.
In all honesty I really thought that this spot was near the highest point we would get to, little did I know. I did give myself a talking to at this point, what is the point of coming all this way and then moaning about having to go a little further. My little pep talk did help and whilst it did hurt on the rest of the hike, I was happy in the knowledge that I had bagged a couple of good images, and that was all that mattered. As you can see from the landscape orientation of the image above the sunlight was starting to creep up the valley, and bathe the fell sides in glorious sunlight. What I great way to start the day. On we went further up to another viewing point that Chris had discovered in the time he’d spent exploring this area previously.
In reality this viewing point was maybe 20 yard away from the previous viewing point, but it was up a steep fell! This is an interesting composition in that everything moves from left to right in the image. The rocks point towards Smallwater and Haweswater, and the light sweeps in from right to left! you get more of a sense of the terrain of the fell side from this image. you can see the shapes of the rocks and random nature of the the way the grasses are around the rocks. I do like this image.
Having acsended to the top of the Nan Field Pass, you van see over the other side of Harter Fell, down onto the Kentmere Reservoir. The Nan Field Pass was originally put in place for folk to get between Mardale Village (which is now submerged under the Haweswater Reservoir) and the Kentmere Reservoir. I did take an image with my iPhone but thats not quite good enough for todays blog.
From the top of the NanBield Pass we heard for the summit of Harter Fell, and whilst I took a few images along the path upwards, I decided that the last image of this blog should be from the viewing point at the top off Harter Fell. You can get a sense of the images that I took on the path upwards by looking at the featured image of this blog. The image was taken by Chris of me in action on the path up to the summit of Harter Fell. I didn’t dream the morning, I was there and here is the evidence to prove it. Thanks Chris.
As we approached the cairn at the top of Harter Fell, we could see a chap who was sat on the cairn. I have to say I was a little disappointed in that I was hoping we would be the first folk up there that morning, but this is me just being a churlish. It was a short walk from the cairn to the viewing point from which I took the image above. This image gives you a real sense of the sweep that the Haweswater Reservoir has through the valley. I think that Chris described this scene as a “Silver Ribbon of Perefction” in his latest zine, where this location features. He’s not wrong you know!! You can also see the contrast created by the sun light on the fell sides to the left of the image, whilst the fell sides on the right are in shadow.
The route down from Harter Fell was via the Gatescarth Pass, this wasn’t the easy descent I was expecting as the path was a mixture of rocks and stones. At least it was downhill but this did put some pressure on my thighs. Lets just say I was relieved when we got back to the car park at Mardale Head. A fabulous photography session and one I wont forget for a long time. Thanks Chris.