5 Frames Hiking the Lake District

By Ron Duda

I’ve visited the Lakes District in northern England on two occasions.  Twenty years ago I completed about half of the 190 mile Coast to Coast Trail which runs across northern England between the Irish and North Seas.  I had hiked from St. Bees on the shores of the Irish Sea to Keld about half way along the route before going on the play golf in Scotland. Much of the Coast to Coast Trail is through the Lake District National Park, renowned for its breathtaking scenery.  Early last fall my wife and I travelled to Scotland, England and Wales. It was no accident that I instructed our travel agent to include a stop of several nights in the Lake District.  I remembered how lovely it was and I wanted my wife to see it, and it would offer me the opportunity to do some hiking.  It was however, very much an accident that our agent booked us into an inn in the Village of Grasmere. I had spent the night there while hiking twenty years ago in what was a pretty basic hostel type of accommodation.  It was fine for the time and situation back then.

Grasmere is a delightful little place with shops, restaurants, a pub or two and importantly, a number of access points to the surrounding trails. Our accommodations in September were very comfortably situated at the Swan Inn – just outside of town. I’d go back in a heartbeat.

The morning after our arrival, while my wife slept in, I took the opportunity to hike.  There’s a quite handy app I use called “All Trails”.  With it you can find local trails wherever you are, read reviews, find trail conditions and use the app to guide you along your selected route.  I chose a trail that began in the village and headed up to Silver How.  I say up because the elevation change from Grasmere to Silver How is about 330 meters.  The hike was a challenge for these 67 year old bones but so rewarding!

The area was just as beautiful as I had remembered.  The view from atop Silver How is magnificent but just as impressive are the sights on the ascent and descent.  The plants, trails, stone walls and pastures are features of a landscape unfamiliar to me and where I live in Ontario, Canada.  Just minutes from town and I felt I was in another world.  I did see other hikers in passing, but the overwhelming feeling was of being up there quite alone.  Quite soothing really.

Although my intention was to travel light, I packed a couple of cameras anyway; my Nikon FA 35mm SLR loaded with Ilford HP5+ and my Yashica “D” TLR loaded with a roll of Kodak Tri-X.  I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to capture some images on medium format.  The Yashica is so light weight it was no bother at all. So with that gear, a bottle of water and an apple, I was off.

In all of my previous posts on 35mmc I’ve simply scanned my negatives and imported them unedited, directly into the my post. I neither possess nor do I have the inclination to fuss with the software required to tweek my images.   For this post I offer the scanned images of my darkroom produced prints.  I think they’re a more accurate representation of the images I had in mind when I fired the shutter back in September.  These are five images from that September morning.

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Comments

Thomas Wolstenholme on 5 Frames Hiking the Lake District

Comment posted: 30/03/2025

I think I can detect that one or possibly two of the photographs were made using the Yashica, but really, does it matter? The most interesting thing to me about each of these photographs is that they have a "look" of being made not recently but 100 years ago. I don't mean that it's just the absence of modern touchstones like automobiles, but the particular grey tones with the subject matter seem to assist with the subject matter chosen to transport one back. Perhaps it was a soft contrast printing paper you selected, (as you noted that these are scans of prints, not negatives), or perhaps it was the lighting or any of a dozen other factors, (or perhaps I wasn't aware that a TARDIS could exisit in a Yashica). No matter as the photos are wonderful. Thank you for sharing these.
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Ron Duda replied:

Comment posted: 30/03/2025

Thank you for taking the time to look at those photographs and for your comment. It’s a timeless landscape - the Lakes District. That makes the task of achieving its capture much easier. I guess part of the reason I continue to use film is for the “look” you noted.

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MI Droz on 5 Frames Hiking the Lake District

Comment posted: 30/03/2025

Thank you for sharing your beautiful images of this stunning area. I also enjoy hiking and using my MF camera (Hassy 500c/m) to capture the sites. I just picked up a Yashica MAT 124G that had been CLA’d and plan to take it on a hike to see if it’s lighter weight than my hassy is noticeable.
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Ron Duda replied:

Comment posted: 30/03/2025

It is indeed a very beautiful area. Your Yashica Mat will certainly be lighter and a great addition to your hiking. The Hasselblad I’ve recently concluded are unmatched in the image quality they produce. Best of luck!

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Gary Smith on 5 Frames Hiking the Lake District

Comment posted: 30/03/2025

Nice work Ron!
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Ron Duda replied:

Comment posted: 30/03/2025

Thank you and thanks for taking a look.

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Jeffery Luhn on 5 Frames Hiking the Lake District

Comment posted: 01/04/2025

Hi Ron,
I agree with Thomas that those photos could have been taken 100 years ago. The tones and the feel have the look of an earlier era. Very nice indeed.

I have several 120 cameras, including Zeiss Ikons, two Mamiya 6, a Pentax 645N system, Mamiya 330, etc. My TLR Rolleicord, feels very similar to your Yashica. It's a timeless design and such a pleasure to shoot. It's really satisfying to compose while looking down onto the ground glass. I feel your joy.
Jeffery
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Geoff Chaplin on 5 Frames Hiking the Lake District

Comment posted: 01/04/2025

Lovely post! I hiked virtually all the route about 25 years ago - flu curtailed the trip a day early. It's impressive how much the landscape changes as you leave the lakes, cross the Pennines then through the Dales. And thanks for the tip about the app!
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