Last weekend we headed for a pre-Christmas trip to the Lake District for a festive getaway and some last minute rest and relaxation. During the trip I managed to mix in a couple of photography sessions and took the camera out on our walks in the stunning Lakeland countryside. We travelled up to the northern lakes via the scenic route stopping off at Bowness and Grasmere before reaching our accommodation in Braithwaite. The weather during the weekend was very mixed but we were lucky to experience breaks in the cloud and rain at all of the right moments allowing me to capture a number of new Lake District images to add to my expanding gallery and stock image collection.

The highlight of the long weekend had to be a stunning walk up the Cat Bells on the shores of Derwent Water. The Cat Bells trail is one of the most popular routes in the northern Lake District but on Monday in the middle of winter the area was deserted allowing us to enjoy the views on the cold crisp winter morning with the mountain all to ourselves. The late sunrise times at this time of year meant we were out walking after breakfast just as the sun rose over the mountains allowing me to capture the remains of the early morning mist hanging over the icy surface of Derwent Water lake.

The last stop of the weekend was Gowbarrow fell at a viewpoint above Aira Force Waterfall. From this viewpoint I captured a stunning winter sunset over the mountains at the western end of Ullswater before heading back home to down the M6 to Barnsley.

Below are a collection of my favourite images from the trip: