Beech boles in Grizedale

A superb day - the brilliance of summer at the moment of budburst is a rare combination and it was almost too hot for the long hike we accomplished, through farmland, down the valley of the Grizedale brook and reservoir and up to Nicky Nook where the panorama across the fells was too hazy for to make out the Isle of Man but just just clear enough to spy Blackpool Tower on the distant coast.

Lancashire is unknown territory for me and I was entranced by the wealth of trees: mature oaks in the fields spreading their branches wide, in the valley soaring beech trees with their great sinewy roots clutching the ground, like these, and higher up the hillsides, birches, black and silver, silhouetted against the blue sky.

A wonderful day's walking which leaves me too tired to do much in the way of commenting. Please forgive me!