For our wedding in 1994 we were given a gift of place mats and coasters by one of Richard’s friends.  The mats were decorated with paintings of Lake District attractions – Beatrix Potter’s cottage, The Bridge House at Ambleside and so on.  One of the pictures was a really attractive painting of Ashness Bridge, and for some time we had no idea where it could be found.  Before we left home we decided that as we were staying near Derwentwater, we ought to include it on one of our trips.

The day was bright and sunny and as it was St Swithin’s Day we hoped it would stay dry.  We thought we would take the ferry round Derwentwater from Keswick to Ashness Gate, the stop nearest to Ashness Bridge and then walk up to the bridge.

The woodlands here are mainly of oak.  These ‘Atlantic Oakwoods’ are an example of temperate rainforest.

The ferry was crowded with walkers and other tourists like us, so it wasn’t too easy to take photos.

We got off the boat and began the steep walk up the lane to the bridge.  I saw a shrew running about at the side of the road and tried to take its picture but it wouldn’t show its face with the long snout.

I saw a few wildflowers by the roadside.

After quite a long steep climb we left the road and carried on up a pathway and eventually got to the bridge.  It is a very popular attraction and again, trying to get a picture of the bridge without lots of people in the way was hard.

This is an old pack-horse bridge which enables the road to cross Barrow Beck, the stream that joins Derwentwater at the foot of the hill.

We walked back down the hill and caught the ferry back to Keswick.

Thanks for visiting!