As I was really supposed to be on my way to work I kept glancing at my watch but it wasn’t easy to resist the magic that a misty morning can summon. Luckily there was no traffic on the nearby road to distract me as I stood there beside the river, it felt as if you could just take one tiny step and end up in a world of fantasy. Time however waits for no one, especially someone daydreaming by a mist shrouded river and a short while (and several photographs) later I was back in the car and continuing my journey to work.

Driving along I thought back to my other visits to that particular location and how it had become a favourite haunt of mine on misty mornings. Minds being what they are mine quickly started to wonder where the phrase “favourite haunt” originated from, it turns out….

haunt (n)  “place frequently visited,” c.1300, also in Middle English, “habit, custom” (early 14c.), from haunt (v.). The meaning “spirit that haunts a place, ghost” is first recorded 1843, originally in stereotypical U.S. black speech.

haunt (v)  early 13c., “to practice habitually, busy oneself with, take part in,” from Old French hanter “to frequent, resort to, be familiar with” (12c.), probably from Old Norse heimta “bring home,” from Proto-Germanic *haimat-janan, from *haimaz- (see home). Meaning “to frequent (a place)” is c.1300 in English. Use in reference to a spirit returning to the house where it had lived perhaps was in Proto-Germanic, but it was reinforced by Shakespeare’s plays, and it is first recorded 1590 in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Related: Haunted; haunting. Middle English hauntingly meant “frequently;” sense of “so as to haunt one’s thoughts or memory” is from 1859. **

Anyway, etymology aside it was the sort of morning where you’d not have been too surprised at a spectral figure wandering out of the mist to say hello, did I say not too surprised? I’d still be running as fast as my legs could carry me now if someone had appeared.

I know I’ve mentioned before how I find misty mornings inspiring, they recharge the creative batteries which is needed at times. Luckily inside my work bag was a copy of Fantasy Drawing Workshop by John Howe, a sketchbook, and a roll of Derwent Pencils***. It felt fitting to pull a book on fantasy art out of my bag after a brief stop in the mist by the river. In the end I didn’t draw anything mist related, nor anything to do with rivers or haunts, but that’s another story

First photo after arriving by the river.

As the Sun made an appearance.

*Hanter – Old French “to frequent”.

**http://www.etymonline.com

***Much in need of replenishment I see a trip to Keswick in our future.

I decided to leave the house a bit earlier than usual in order to watch the Sun rise. It was quite nice to spend a quiet moment down by the river watching the mist swirl above it. Once the Sun appeared it was time to vanish off to work, though I did stop a couple of times to see how the mist filled the valley below.

Anyway, I took a couple of photographs which is essentially what I went for

*I believe Langwathby Bridge is the longest standing temporary bridge in the Country, built in 1968 it’s not doing too bad

Then it all clouded over and looked a little boring for a while – well, boring for landscape photographs or sketching that is. We ended up having a run down to Kirkby Lonsdale, I took the camera along more out of hope than anything else not expecting much from the weather to allow photographs. When we arrived in Kirkby Lonsdale the weather had changed again and the clouds had broken to reveal a deep blue sky dotted with clouds. So we had a wander round the back of St. Marys Church to look at Ruskin’s View. It was a painting of this view by Turner that led Ruskin to comment ‘I do not know in all my own country, still less in France or Italy, a place more naturally divine’

The weather sadly did not stay like this for long and shortly afterwards we were dashing back towards the car getting soaked, the roads turned to rivers and I was glad for that fleeting glance at a place so naturally divine.

We then went on to Armathwaite to look at the Eden, it really is looking like it could run dry almost any day, when I think back to how I’ve seen it in the past it’s quite amazing really.

The first few were taken near Armathwaite.

These two are of the River Eden between Lazonby and Kirkoswald.