On any particular autumn afternoon, the same fells (that is, Lake District mountains) can look amazingly different, thanks to the low, slanting rays of the sun or to the mists which may settle.
The first view looks out and down the tongue which separates the Fairfield group of fells from the Helvellyn series. The sun highlights the grass and the russet of the dead bracken, and the trail itself shines. Although this route is equally good for ascent or descent, most people tend to descend by it, as the path leads to the Traveller's Rest, a very convenient pub (but which also varies in quality enormously from year to year).
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The second shot, from another afternoon, is taken from Silver How and looks over Grasmere (well hidden -- toward the right -- in the mist filling the valley) toward the tongue, the deep V in the ridge line. Mist, mist, and more mist . . . wet, dry, impenetrable, transparent, or translucent: the Lake District has them all. You learn to appreciate the qualities of waterproof clothing in this climate. And if your walking boots don't have a bellows tongue, you haven't spent much time on the fells.
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