Drawing 238: Derwentwater, from Castle Head
Direction of view: SSW
Notes: Best in the morning. Castle Head is easily accessed from Springs Road in Keswick, or from the lakeside car park. It isn’t now possible to duplicate the sketch exactly; the view indicator has changed.
This view also appears on page 144 of Wainwright in Lakeland, page 47 of Fellwalking with a Camera, it is the twenty second photo in Ex-Fellwanderer, and appears on page 39 of Memoirs of a Fellwanderer, with the photo and the sketch together. Wainwright handles light and shade brilliantly here, making a drawing with far more drama and impact than the photograph has.
Comments: I first took this picture on one of those “bonanza” sketch days with Peter Messenger; on this occasion in January 1978 we got 7 sketches: 38 and 39, 238, 248, 327 and 394 and finally 6. The view indicator plate had been partly prized up, as can be seen in the photo.
I first took the picture for the digital project on 18th October 2015, on a walk with Peter and Ruth Messenger. We had planned a walk to see the autumn colours, and perhaps get a few sketches, but the day was dull, and got duller, so this was the only picture I took.
I have included another picture here as a contrast. It was taken shortly after 10am on 2nd January 2019, when the sun was just rising over Walla Crag. I had taken a picture and was packing my equipment away when a robin flew over and perched on the foreground rocks – an irresistible temptation for another photograph! I stood further back than for the 2015 picture, which I think is an improvement.
