Issue #1 The Miscellaneous Adventures Digest

Updates from life in the Lakes

Hello there, Andrew here. In an effort to move away from Instagram we’re going to try and write a regular entry on our Substack. We have fallen out of the habit of writing so this will serve as a sort of prompt to get us jotting things down and documenting our adventures. Often I think we worry too much about not being very good at writing, or about that the things we have to say are not interesting or important enough to share but here we’re making a conscious effort to worry less and let things flow. The vague format for these posts will be a weekly roundup of things we’ve been up to, adventures we’ve been on here in the Lake District and of course frequent ramblings and thoughts about nature and the universe. We’ll be sharing photos here too. Sometimes the writing will be me, other times Emma and maybe occasionally both of us. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts…

Last weekend the weather was dry, the first dry weekend in a while actually so we made the most of it and caught up on some outdoor jobs at home and then headed over to the Borrowdale valley. Borrowdale and the surrounding area was always one our favourite areas of the Lake District before we moved up here; our good friend Jeffrey Bowman lives near by and it was with him that we explored the valley for the first time many years ago. There is one walk in particular that has a special place in our hearts as it was the first place we took Benji when he was just a few months old. We’ve been back several times at different stages of his development; it’s beautiful to look back over those moments and to think about how much he’s grown and changed since each visit. This time the walk actually felt too short, testament to Benji’s strength and agility which has come on in literal leaps and bounds since we moved here. It’s a joy to watch him scampering over boulders or hopping from rock to rock over fords. It’s the woods that draw us back to this part of the Lake District; the largest area of native broadleaf woodland of any of the valleys. The Atlantic oak woodland that cloaks the hills looked resplendent in orange and browns but we had sadly missed the birches with their golden yellow glow.

Autumnal oak against the backdrop of Eagle Crag

It was unsettlingly warm. 18 degrees according to the thermometer on the van. It’s hard to ignore the impending threat of climate change on days like these; for some the warm weather represents a good chance to hike in shorts, but for me it represents the unravelling of the fabric of all life on earth so perhaps you’ll forgive me for failing to enjoy summery temperatures in November.

I also paid a visit to a farm near where we live in Eskdale; we met the owners recently and it turns out they have kids close to Benji’s age and are managing their farm as sustainably as possible as well as working to improve biodiversity on the land they own. They have some an area of oak woodland on the farm they wanted me to look at so we had a lovely wander around their land chatting conservation, trees and farming and it looks like there will be lots of scope for collaboration. It’s nice to find like minded people so close to where we live with the added bonus of new friends for Benji.

I’m in the woods in Grizedale all this week updating my chainsaw training to get my medium trees qualification, we are felling big larch trees that are infected with Phytophthora. I suppose I’ve been felling medium sized trees for a while but I’m a firm believer in being trained properly and doing things as safely as possible so I’ll be glad to get my qualification at the end of the week - if I pass the assessment of course.

Well, that’s all for now, it’s been very soggy up here all week but it looks like there’s a glimmer of hope for a dry day on Saturday. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to get out and about exploring; the streams and rivers are very full so perhaps we’ll go waterfall watching.

Wishing you all a good weekend,
Andrew, Emma and Benji