Looking up the Esk Valley towards Bow Fell

3. THE ESK VALLEY

What a fantastic place this is!

This valley offers you so much with its low level sheep farming and villages such as Eskdale Green and Boot, contrasting with the really wild, proper ‘moontin’ scenery that puts you out in the middle of nowhere. The further you move up towards the head with Bow Fell or ‘The Pointy One’ as I call it towering above you, the more remote it becomes.

A few years back, I was fortunate enough o be asked to photograph it from source to sea, literally the whole of its length by the editor of ‘Landscape’ magazine. It was undertaken a year in advance because they wanted it to fully reflect the Autumn and it took me into nooks and crannies I hadn’t been to before..

It was a mammoth task but I loved doing it.

The lower reaches around Muncaster, Eskmeals and Ravenglass offer us as photographers a very different kind of photography. Ravenglass is the only ‘seaside’ port in the National Park and the sunsets are spectacular. Muncaster and its Fell will give you aerial views that are equally as good in their own right. However, be warned, the walk along it is generally a tad boggy!

As you walk or drive along the valley and pas Boot, it begins to narrow and the mountains on either side start to get higher.

You will arrive at a place called Brotherilkeld that marks the beginning of your decision:

Do you go upto Hard Knott, an extremely steep walk or drive that reaches 33%?

or

Do you turn at the Mountain Rescue Phone Box (a proper old, red phone box) and walk along the valley floor?

I have done it both ways. Obviously, it’s a slow trudge as you ascend (it is for me now…) but looking back gives you fantastic views. Now that I am ‘getting on a bit,’ carrying my kit up that sort of incline isn’t happening anymore, so I drive up it now. I stop at the Roman Fort and find that gives me all I need nowadays.

Of course you may be more ambitious (as I used to be) and I have always found a spot or two that I can park at and walk the rest of the way up Hard Knott itself. Just be mindful that if you do decide to drive up, that some people who attempt it become the equivalent of ‘crag fast.’ They find it a ‘hairy drive’ but personally, I don’t have an issue with it.

Unless you want views from atop, I personally find that the best way to experience this section of the valley, is to walk along the valley floor and make for Lingcove Bridge.

Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

The first time I ventured out there, the relatively easy walk of 2.4 miles, (I am old school) took me over five hours because it was stop and photograph all along the way.

You have been warned.

However, do it on a day when it’s gloomy and dramatic? Add an extra hour on!!

Enjoy!

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