Outdoor/Travel Feature
Winner Vivienne Crow
Autumn in the Valleys / published in The Great Outdoors
What the judges said...
‘This article sums up how
hard it is to be original when
writing about the Lake District,
but this honesty gives the
article an original angle, and
allows the author to weave in
a history of writers and artists
who’ve attempted to capture
the essence of the lakes,
alongside other observations
on the changing seasons, the
impact of human activity on
the landscape. Fascinating
examples and contemporary
quotes add colour and back up
points. And all this interwoven
with a walk.’
Judges Carlton Reid, founder
of On Your Bike magazine,
and Elizabeth Multon,
commissioning editor of Adlard
Coles Nautical at Bloomsbury
Publishing
Vivienne accepting her award from Kevin Freeborn of Crimson Publishing
Autumn in the Valley (excerpt)
I
24 Outdoor focus | winter 2018
Great Langdale Beck in the autumn
t’s too early in the day for the crowds. Later, as the
forecast sunshine appears, Loughrigg Terrace will
undoubtedly become a sedate stream of walkers
enjoying a stroll along one of the Lake District’s most
popular paths, but, right now, I have it to myself. I look
down on the calm waters of Grasmere and the woods
surrounding it. The autumn colours seem rather muted,
an uninspiring jumble of browns and mucky yellows.
I admit I’m disappointed: camera in hand, I’d been
hoping for a dazzling early morning display. I wait... And
I wait some more...
Eventually, the high cloud begins to break, allowing
rays of sun to briefly illuminate patches of woodland,
bringing the colours to vivid life. The canopy of Penny
Rock Wood is particularly rich: its dominant oaks still
retain some of their greenery, but there are also shades
of gold, orange, ochre, bright yellow... Not wishing to
resort to Dulux-like terms such as ‘toasted terracotta’
or ‘honey mustard’, my vocabulary palette can’t do
the scene justice. It’s a constant stumbling block over
the next three days as I weave my way through the
central Lakes: how to describe such magnificence, such
beauty, without resorting to clichés – even though I’m
surrounded by a landscape that’s been written about,
painted and photographed so many times, it has itself
become a cliché.
Day One: Grasmere to Little Langdale
The Lake District offers up many different types of
beauty; its appeal doesn’t differ only according to the
beholder’s eye. In winter, it has a savage kind of beauty,
its snow-covered fells eliciting both a slack-jawed
admiration and a shiver-down-the-spine sense of
anticipation and fear. When the cloud is low, its beauty
is more mysterious as crags and summits emerge and
then vanish behind a veil of mist. On sunny October
days, when the true brilliance of the autumn colours is
revealed, it takes on a ‘chocolate box’ quality, a beauty
that brings out photographers in their hordes, many
hoping to frame the perfect picture postcard.