In a day of much weather I walked up the steep path to Scales Tarn, which lies in the arms of Blencathra. There was a rainbow on the way out, rain on the way up, a glimpse of sunshine just as I floated about in the tarn. It was windy… most of the time, there were dry spells and two more rainbows, though I succeeded in missing the hail. All this was to be expected for an unsettled day in Cumbria, in late October.
More unexpected was the waterspout. Just about a minute after I got out of the water the wind whisked it up into a whirling apparition that danced across the lake towards me. Not unfriendly but seeming otherworldly, though I was the visitor and it was in its natural habitat. I watched it, spellbound, wondering if I was about to get quite wet, yet to worry over my dry clothes seemed somehow ungrateful for the experience. And then as it approached the shore, it veered left, dissipated, and was gone.
Perhaps the spirit of Scales Tarn had said hello, or perhaps she was actually seeing me off the premises. The intentions of water sprites can be obscure, and they are not unknown as troublemakers…
There was much faffing with the development of this drawing – I more or less started from the beginning 4 times. I thought you might like to see a few highlights of the journey…
WaterDrawn 