Recently, It’s Rained a bit.  In fact, it felt more like November than May.  However in the main it hasn’t rained  - at all.  What this has led to is incredibly low river levels, something that as a canoeist has been a bit of a problem.  Cue Rocky Rivers where its a literal case of River Running, pulling the boat behind me on a rope.

This has also been interesting for photography.  Some of the waterfalls I’ve planned to shoot recently have been put back a bit.  Well, you need to have some water going over them at least  On a recent trip in my canoe down the River Ribble in Lancashire I went through a place called Jumbles.

At Jumbles is something of an oddity, as you’ll come across a mini Suspension bridge built in the 1950′s to provide a crossing place between the surrounding villages.  It’s quite a contrast to all the other stone and mason bridges in the area, but none the less something of a local landmark of sorts.

In the low river season we’ve had recently, It also provides an interesting location for landscapes, with the river flowing down a narrow channel, leaving the rest calm and still like a pond.  So here’s what I saw on a recent trip.

The reason behind this?  Originally, in the dark days of the first websites I ran, I had a site purely for Landscapes, as well as a personal site.  Recently I took the decision that – for now – all work will come under the mountainworx brand.  This has now become a way of outputting all work I’ve produced, rather than it being in a few different areas.

As more work comes in, it’ll make it online too.  And of course if you are a business looking for commercial photographs – or videos – -to advertise your work, please get in touch.  You’ll be surprised at the difference it’ll make.

Right.  This isn’t just a waterfall.  Well O.K, it is.  But its not just any waterfall.  For this happens to be Skelwith Force, one of the most known waterfalls of lore in the world of Canoeing and Kayaking.  Many have been over this little (or big depending on the water level) gem hidden away in the Lake District.

Sure, there are more well know locations for such things, for example the River Crake, but Skelwith Force has something for everyone, including Landscape Photographers.

All of the above gives you an idea of the sort of planning that sometimes goes into a lake district photoshoot.  But the strange thing is, in this case, no such planning took place.  Sure, I’d planned to go to buttermere, but how I ended up ankle deep in Ennerdale has nothing to do with planning.  More of just seeing the road sign to it, and taking a punt on what I’d find.  Plus I’d always wanted to go there.

Ennerdale is a hidden Gem, and not that well known.  Hidden in the Western Lakes, and not all that easy to get to, it has some dramatic views, and provides a look onto some of the Lake Districts most well known peaks.  I nearly didn’t photograph this scene at all, as I’m a little bored of the thousands of lakes and mountain shots over the internet, but I’m quite glad I did.

Oh, and if you read that just to find out which is the true “lake” in the Lake District, It’s Bassenthwaite Lake.

There’s only really one road into and out of Gisburn Forest when it comes to the main carpark.  While it isn’t a dead end, I always kinda went straight on when going home after a day hitting the trails.  Thing is, you can turn right, and head up around Stocks Reservoir.  But where does it go?

Truth told, I had absolutely no idea, so for a laugh, and partly curious, I followed it.  Just to see where it went.  Parts were wide, parts were narrow, parts were not even parts.  Just as I was about to turn around and head home, it leveled out.  Turns out, if you go that way it ends up in North Yorkshire, the other side of the valley which holds the A65 in it’s basin.  It also turns out that you get a pretty good view of the three peaks.  So that’s what I did.  Well, one of them anyway.