Mountain High, Valley Low
Jordan Fadden • 18 August 2022
Hiking In The Lake District
This is a kind of visual diary in photographs of a six-day jaunt hiking through parts of the Lake District National Park last week. It was a very mild, and occasionally hot week - not a single cloud appeared in the sky for five-days. And by Sunday evening thunder and lightning arrived as I made my way Northwards back to where I started.
My journey began in Keswick, with an open-top bus ride down the Borrowdale Valley to Seatoller situated at the start of the Honister Pass. Only after I'd been battered by overhanging branches did I notice the warning sign on the back of the seat in front, with leaves and twigs strewn across the top deck - the front half roofed and protected unlike the rear.
"Wind, rain and mist sweep down Borrowdale in avalanches of atmosphere worthy of grand opera. You have to be made of stone not to be moved by the romance of it all." - Jim Watson (Lakeland Towns)
Jim Watson's book was published in 1992 and was a follow on to Lakeland Villages. I spent a short while looking through some books in Keswick library as I waited for the bus when returning. The author describes how much Keswick has changed since he worked in the town as a kid. Think how much it's changed in yet another thirty-years.
Borrowdale to Great Langdale
On arrival in Seatoller, I followed the river back to the village of Stonethwaite and began the arduous hike up Greenup Gill. Tucked away at the base is a very nice pub and hotel called the Langstrath. The deep and impressive Greenup Gill leads up to Greenup Edge, and from there I made my way up to the summit of High White Stones.
Great Langdale, Pike Of Blisco & Oxendale
Chapel Stile & Oxendale
Stake Pass & High White Stones
Sunrise & Moonset from High White Stones
Borrowdale, King's How & Keswick
Mountain High, Valley Low
- by Jordan Fadden
- •
- 18 Aug, 2022
- •
Hiking In The Lake District
This is a kind of visual diary in photographs of a six-day jaunt hiking through parts of the Lake District National Park last week. It was a very mild, and occasionally hot week - not a single cloud appeared in the sky for five-days. And by Sunday evening thunder and lightning arrived as I made my way Northwards back to where I started.
My journey began in Keswick, with an open-top bus ride down the Borrowdale Valley to Seatoller situated at the start of the Honister Pass. Only after I'd been battered by overhanging branches did I notice the warning sign on the back of the seat in front, with leaves and twigs strewn across the top deck - the front half roofed and protected unlike the rear.
"Wind, rain and mist sweep down Borrowdale in avalanches of atmosphere worthy of grand opera. You have to be made of stone not to be moved by the romance of it all." - Jim Watson (Lakeland Towns)
Jim Watson's book was published in 1992 and was a follow on to Lakeland Villages. I spent a short while looking through some books in Keswick library as I waited for the bus when returning. The author describes how much Keswick has changed since he worked in the town as a kid. Think how much it's changed in yet another thirty-years.
Borrowdale to Great Langdale
On arrival in Seatoller, I followed the river back to the village of Stonethwaite and began the arduous hike up Greenup Gill. Tucked away at the base is a very nice pub and hotel called the Langstrath. The deep and impressive Greenup Gill leads up to Greenup Edge, and from there I made my way up to the summit of High White Stones.
Great Langdale, Pike Of Blisco & Oxendale
Chapel Stile & Oxendale
Stake Pass & High White Stones
Sunrise & Moonset from High White Stones
Borrowdale, King's How & Keswick
This is mainly a picture-sharing post from a week spent on the gorgeous island of Ibiza in the Balearics, Spain. Although I spent some time in the awesome megaclubs, soaking up the sounds and the incredible atmosphere, I also traveled around the small island and spent more of my time exploring the beaches, towns and landscapes. My favourite day was a ferry trip to Formentera, which is great for cycling and has some of the world's best beaches—many of which are lined with great beach bars.
This blog post contains a selection of photographs which I made in the middle of February 2025 on a visit to Madeira – a Portuguese island in the Atlantic just north of the Canaries. It's known for having a warm and pleasant climate all year round, even in Winter, and also for having some of the best hiking trails in the world. It's also known by many people as the vertical island due to its incredibly steep mountains which rise from the ocean. Madeira is a green and lush island with some very impressive coastal cliffs.
This is a selection of photographs from a visit to the African country of Morocco in late December 2024 and January 2025. Notes on images will be found at the end of this page. Places visited include the cities of Agadir, Marrakech, Ouarzazate and Essaouira, as well as a trip through the High Atlas Mountains to Ait Benhaddou, Fint Oasis and the Atlantic coastal region in Southern Morocco.
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As we move from Winter into Spring time, one place I ventured into for the first time last week was the dramatic moorland region around the North Yorkshire villages of Clapham and Austwick. As you make your ascent on the steep tracks, incredible panoramic views open up across the Forest of Bowland to the south. And as you ascend farther into the Dales you encounter all kinds of interesting boulders, crags, and screes. The distinctive dry stone walls and many field barns confirm that you are well inside the National Park, with streams gushing from the hills and limestone pavement dominating the views of the famous Yorkshire three-peaks once you arrive on high ground.
The smartphone offers an alternative way of drawing and seeing. Even when you're not one for spending very much time looking at little screens, and swiping and tapping and scrolling, the smartphone can still be a useful device if you happen to be without your usual materials. And of course a tablet would be the next step if you was really inclined to using a digital means of sketching, especially if your focus is going to be on landscapes. As small as the touchscreen is, it responds to subtle movements made by the finger or thumb. No app was used here, just the basic photo editor which allows you to make marks over the top. The phone I used was a Samsung Galaxy S8 Edge. Very small compared to most.
Thank you for the memories to those whom I met on my journey to the famous lagoon, - in particular Florentina and Theodora who invited me to Padua to show me the sights of this nearby town at night. Tina was a most knowledgeable guide, whilst Dora kept us amused with her hilarious accent. Also, best wishes to Kalina and Milena. I very much look forward to revisiting Venezia in the future. Even though the days are only short, and the weather still quite cold and unpredictable, the light in January is still dazzling as you can see.
It felt more like the depths of Winter, rather than the start, during my five-day's of hiking across high land at the end of November. The North Pennines is a vast area, featuring the highest paved roads in the country. And the weather can be more changeable than anywhere else; atop Great Dun Fell there's a radar and weather station specifically for studying the clouds, because here you get the highest amount of precipitation.
The following selection of images represents some of my recent travel photography on a visit to the southernmost Greek island of Crete in late September to mid-October 2023. When viewing these pictures, imagine if you can the sound of bells jingling as mountain goats pass across the mountainsides and roads, the loud noise of crickets, the smell of salt air from the Mediterranean and Libyan sea, and of the chatter of the Cretan folk with their warm hospitality as they prepare their wonderful cuisine rich in olive oil and complemented by their drink offerings of raki and retsina.
This is a visual diary in photographs from a few days of hiking and mountain climbing in the English Lake District last weekend. I covered quite a lot of ground from the high mountain of Helvellyn in the East across to the more Westerly mountain of Haystacks before descending in to the Buttermere Valley. It was very lively down by the shores of Lake Buttermere as an annual paragliding event was taking place, with people dropping from aeroplanes and flying off most of the surrounding high peaks before trying to land as close to the target in one of the fields. Some of the participants descended in somersaults leaving colourful trails of smoke behind them.