River Leven

Today's the day .......................... to leave the lake

I've been making the trip between Kendal and Barrow-in-Furness fairly often recently - to see Baby Dominic.  I thought I would come home the scenic route today and this was taken as I climbed up towards Gummers Howe, looking down over Lake Windermere, just as the sun disappeared down behind the hill. 

It's the River Leven that drains Windermere from its southernmost point and flows for about eight miles or so into the northern reaches of Morecambe Bay.  The river and its estuary are the boundary between the Cartmel Peninsula and Furness Peninsula in the area once known referred to as Lancashire north of the sands. 

The Leven is popular with kayakers because of the continuous grade III+ rapids found between Newby Bridge and Haverthwaite.  It's a noted salmon river and at spawning time, the fish can be seen jumping up the waterfalls at Backbarrow.  It was this steep fall that allowed industrial use of the river for the ultramarine mill and also a small hydroelectric generator at Backbarrow ironworks.................