A spectacular cloud Inversion from Walla Crag, near Keswick, Lake District, UK.

Cloud inversion walla crag keswick lake district views see

Looking west from Walla Crag, towards the peaks of Crag Hill and Grisedale Pike, with Derwent Water buried beneath the cloud.

A quick evening walk up to Walla Crag to see a spectacular cloud inversion in the Lake District

This is quite a short blog post compared to my others - but it shows some spectacular views. I had been wanting to see a cloud inversion for a long-time in the Lake District (where the cloud hangs really low and the Lake District peaks come out of the cloud). Because I don't live in the Lakes and these weather conditions can't really be predicted days in advance - then it's pretty much pot luck if I happen to be in the Lakes when an inversion happens, although statistically they are most likely to happen in the Autumn & Winter - when the air is cooler. For more info on cloud inversion formation see www.terrybnd.blogspot.co.uk/cloud-temperature-inversion-inversion

On this particular day I had spent the vast majority of it in the Langdale area of the lakes where the skies where clear and sunny. As I was driving home to the A66 road and onto the North-East - I decided to go the more scenic route via Rydal Water/Grasmere/Thirlmire (One of my favourite roads to drive). With the evening drawing in, as I left Thirlmire - some heavy mist was also drawing in - so I headed towards Keswick. With it being a clear day elsewhere I knew the lakes was experiencing high-pressure weather wise, so I made an educated guess that above the mist the skies would be clear. The easiest and closest to get to high vantage point that I knew of was Walla Crag, which borders the eastern side of Derwent Water. So I drove up to Castlerigg Hall campsite, which is as closest as I could get the car to the footpath that would led up to Wall Crag.

It was still misty here - but I thought I would take a chance and head up to Walla Crag. It was quite misty most of the way and I didn't think I would get lucky - but then all of a sudden the mist broke, and then - wow! Some spectacular views. These photos don't really do those sights justice - but being above the clouds is an awe-some experience in the truest sense of the word. The sun had set by this point - but the faint orange glow of the setting sun was still illuminating the distant fells. It was a case of just soak it all up and take a few pics. My camera wasn't the best at handling the relatively low-light and I had no tripod due to the rush - but hopefully these pics get across some of the spectacular views I seen. I'm hopeful I will get to see many more cloud inversions again, and will know that if ever it is misty in the lakes whilst it's been clear skies elsewhere - then I will head up high hoping to see a cloud inversion.

Cloud inversion walla crag keswick lake district views see blencathra terry bnd skiddaw

Looking north from Walla Crag towards Skiddaw, with the town of Keswick buried in there somewhere

Cloud inversion lake district view Walla Crag Keswick Derwent Water Terry bnd Helvellyn

You can see the view point on Walla Crag from where these photos are taken. I would guess that Walla Crag is one of the most accessible places in the lakes to see a cloud inversion. I parked my car quite near Rakefoot/Castlerigg Campsite (North-east of the view point above) and it was a quick walk up hill of about 1000m via the footpath to Walla Crag, which took me about 15mins.

Looking west from Walla Crag, towards the peaks of Crag Hill and Grisedale Pike, with Derwent Water buried beneath the cloud.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions - just post a comment.