On Sunday I thought there must be a solution and contacted our website developer Leanda Ryan to ask if she could find out what was wrong.

Monday afternoon she was back with the answer – Fishers had changed their website and the code for accessing the webcam. And now she had fixed it. The first picture I got yesterday (see opposite) was the clearest I had ever seen and a real come-on to get up there in the snow!

It’s a really useful facility, which gives you an up to date picture of weather conditions in the Derwent Valley and on the Skiddaw massif from a distance, whether you’re in Edinburgh, Tyneside or Leeds. Combine this with the BBC weather forecasts, also accessible from our home page and you’ve got a fairly good idea of what weather to expect over the next 8 -12 hours.

This is good news and all thanks to a very efficient Leanda for getting things done within a busy schedule. If you want some smart design, website creation or digital development work done yourself, contact her at www.leandaryan.com

And while we are about it, thanks to Fishers Outdoors shop in Keswick for allowing access to their webcam.

Antique? Well not quite but old, pre stainless steel certainly and quick to rust, if not dried after use.

But the decision made us also think about how best to store all the knives for easy retrieval. So this last Sunday after a lunch time discussion of alternatives, we decided on a magnetic knife holder.

They work like magic. I’d always fancied one but we’d never had the right space for it.

So log on to Amazon – yes we could have one and at 3.32 pm an email confirmed the 40 cms long rack had been dispatched with free next day delivery.

As promised, the van drew up a little after 2.00 pm on Monday and the parcel was handed over and signed off.

Amazon had got the rack selected, packed and delivered to a country area in under 24 hours from a Sunday start. Impressive.

No complaints there. This is online shopping at its best and saved me a lot of time.

But the box (opposite) was a different matter!

Slitting it open I wondered first if there was anything there. Loads of brown scrumpled up paper tumbled out, but no sign of the rack.

Finally I found it at the bottom, well packed in its own box. It measured 2 x 5 x 47 cms, so it didn’t take long to work out the Amazon delivery box (11 x 35 x 55 cms) would have held easily 34 of the racks – if I had wanted that many!

And that scrumpled up paper? On inspection it turned into a long seamless sausage-like creation, which flattened out into one continuous length of paper over five metres long by 38 cms wide.

For just one knife rack they had needed, because of the over large box, a length of packing paper that stretched from the eaves of the cottage to the flower bed – as you can see in the photo at the top of the page.

I’m a fan of online shopping because it can save on ‘travel to search’ time and costs. But the calculations from this example about use of resources are pretty scary. Just a hundred similar Amazon deliveries would use up 500 metres of the packing paper, which would either be thrown away or recycled at best. How many trees do you need for this and for the over large packaging?

The knives look great now and I had them installed on the new rack by 3.30 pm on Monday. That’s good going – a 24 hour turn round for job completion is fast. But isn’t it time Amazon looked at its wasteful packaging policies? No gold stars here for good environmental practice.

Yesterday we walked up from Millbeck on the south facing side of the Derwent Valley, for a brief afternoon walk and found a new track down from Slade Beck we hadn’t used before.

There’s lots of water running off the fells – and in the beck, which the ‘cragsure’ Herdwick sheep had little difficulty in leaping across. On our descent through the woods, we passed this magnificent waterfall (photo opposite), which was all of 30-35 feet in height.

A surprise? Yes, but it shouldn’t have been because when I got back I found it marked on the 1:25000 map. (For a route up Slade Beck which takes you up to Carlside and Skiddaw top see our Walks section).

Back at The Larches we’ve been clearing and manuring the vegetable plot, a job I have been putting off for too long. It meant though that we could have the delicious remains of the parsnips – very succulent but they were not as large as I had hoped!

We’ve been delighted to see that the snowdrops are well out already in the garden and on the lane running up to the cottage. These ‘harbingers of Spring’ as Wordsworth called them – have come really early this year and there are even daffodils appearing in the road to Thornthwaite off the A66.

We’ve not seen the red squirrel this time but this morning had a large pheasant strutting around the garden and terraces like a lord of the manor! They’ve been seen much more in the locality in recent months and appear to have escaped from Lord Rochdale’s estate. There are often large numbers of them in the fields near Swinside on the road to Catbells.

It’s an easy walk to this ‘away from it all’ spot, with a footpath down from Pen Cottage at the Swan House apartments (formerly the Swan Inn), below Barf. I had never found this before and it takes you down through the old cottages at Powter How to the subway beneath the A66.

I knew the light was fading, but the latched gate to a path heading south down the lake drew my eye. “Why not explore a little further? It must lead to something” I thought and picked my way past two more gates and a ‘No dogs” notice.

Then I saw it – a low dark shape through the waterlogged trees. A plank with railing drew me on and I climbed the few steps. “Just slide the door” stated the notice.

Now I was inside this darkened capacious hide, with large illustrations of 33 different bird species, typical of lakes and marshland. Stools and a bench with four separate 12cms x 40 cms hinged observation flaps completed these wonderful facilities for bird watchers. Only the tea and kettle were missing!

This is part of the Bassenthwaite National Nature Reserve, where there are over 70 species of resident birds (See notice below). We owe a thanks for these free facilities to the Lake District Planning Board and other bodies like the RSPB, whose members support the programme and upkeep.

It has brightened up the town, but the view of shopkeepers and others has been more gloomy. Trade and visitors have been down on last year, despite the mild weather with none of the deep freeze conditions of December 2010, when even Derwentwater froze over for days.

With job cuts and wage freezes, an economy in recession and now a euro zone crisis affecting Europe and wider, it’s hardly surprising that Cumbria is taking some battering.

But there are other signs councils and planners need to take account of. Britain’s high streets and shopping practices are changing – and changing fast. An Ofcom report (December 2010) showed we are leading the way in Europe in moving over to online shopping.

79% of us buy goods online compared with Germany (73%), France (70%) and Italy (27%) and it showed in our streets. There’s been an army of delivery vans and drivers knocking on doors up to Christmas. No longer is the Royal Mail the only show in town.

More than 30 national companies like UPS and DFS offer national parcel services. A driver I spoke to had to make 80-90 drops a day. The scale of this change over the last decade is startling and rapid.

No wonder Mary Portas in her recent report for the Government (Daily Telegraph, 12 December 2011) has warned that the high street could disappear for ever unless we take action now. Some areas already have almost 40% of empty shops and Keswick is not immune to this. There are too many competing cut price sports shops in the town, with Blacks announcing on Christmas Eve that it was likely to go into receivership in early 2012. Others could follow.

Keswick has a wider base of shops than some areas with stalls on market days too, but it should not rest content. The council must explore with others what more needs to be done to ensure that the town remains a vibrant and exciting place for visitors and shoppers beyond 2012.

But last week in Keswick in broad daylight I saw something different – a shapely new mountain – which completely threw me. A keen wind was blowing and thick clouds covered the high fell tops. Mountains surround the town, so I am used to seeing them from different angles as they poke out above the rooftops. But this time there was a hilltop profile – almost that of an isosceles triangle – I couldn’t immediately identify.

It took me a while to crack the mystery, but a group of local residents failed in the task when I asked them at the weekend. So now it’s over to our readers! The first to send me the right answer – the name of this mountain – gets a pot of our best 2012 Tango marmalade. The correct answer will be published in the New Year. Just email me (ian@lakelandbelvedere.com) a message with ‘Mystery Mountain’ in the Subject box and the answer below.

HINT: If you are a keen reader of this website and of the walking section, you will find a hint about the answer!

We did not know however about the influence the Institute’s School of Art had on shaping from the 1920s features of the houses and environment of the Old Town – the neighbourhood just north of downtown Chicago – where we spent last month.

In 1927 two AIC students Sol Kogen and Edgar Miller set up the Carl Street Studios there in Burton Place, off Wells Street, to provide workspace for artists and to promote modern art. Its influence on the neighbourhood and its buildings has been considerable.

Walk round the streets of Old Town and you’ll come across murals, mosaics, stained glass windows, multi coloured tiles in odd settings and intricate doorways, many of which were created or inspired by Edgar Miller, who was a talented artist, metal worker and designer.

We encountered this first in the interior of a 1930s small block of apartments where we were staying. Open the front door and immediately at your feet in the small tiled lobby was a large mosaic with a humourous self-referencing title ‘Mosaic’ (see photo above).

Walk up the narrow stairway to our first floor apartment and there’s another surprise. Attached to the iron bannister and rising to the next floor is a 15 feet tall hardwood ‘totem pole’, with a series of detailed carvings. At the bottom (see opposite) a deftly carved figure of a standing nude woman with long flowing hair hits you in the face . What joyful exuberance on a winding stairway!

Fortunately the City Council has recognised the contribution made by the Carl Street Studios to the area’s charm and bohemian character with some plaques and two contrasting sculptures – a powerful male figure in burnished steel in a bed of flowers and a striding woman with rusting chains on the pavement (see photos below).

Street art and sculpture adds to the quality of any city or town, whatever the continent. It’s a humanising force and a great eye catcher as I showed in the case of Valencia in Spain.

It makes me think that Keswick our mountaineering capital of England would be a great venue for some bold new sculptures. Perhaps the Town Council could be persuaded to give some thought to the idea. Let us have your views in the comments section below.

We’ve met people from Europe and the US, who’ve wondered if there is anywhere in the UK, where the altitude and mountains can really prepare you for the conditions you’re likely to meet in the Himalayas.

If you have experience of winter walking or climbing in Scotland or the Lakes, you will of course know the answer. Last year we met Jon Bennett, one of the Helvellyn climbers who daily report in the winter on conditions at the top. He described taking five hours summiting from Thirlmere through snow drifts up to five feet deep. That’s tough!

And back in the 80s we remember a fierce August night beside wild Loch Avon below Cairngorm, when we just managed to hold up our tent with our two young children beside us in the tail end of a violent Hurricane Harry. We survived, but sadly we learnt on our return that a German father had that same night lost one of his two young children through hypothermia when trying to cross the plateau from Braemar to Aviemore. He had been used to the Alps and wasn’t ready for the Scottish weather.

Yes, the conditions on our high fells, though under 1000m, can still be arctic even in summer and can prepare you for the worst. We were reminded of this when reading Graham Ratcliffe’s, ‘A day to die for’, an account of the Everest climb back in 1996, when eight people tragically lost their lives.

Ratcliffe points out there that the photographer Bentley Beetham – whose impressive photos of the 1924 expedition and of the tent, where Mallory and Irving spent their last night alive, have helped to maintain interest in the expedition – learnt his mountain skills as a young teenager in the Lake District. Not for nothing do they call Keswick the climbing and outdoor capital of England!

There is a great website of the whole of Beetham’s oeuvre in the Himalayas, which has recently been created by a new Trust in association with the University of Durham.

To get the best you need to be there early as this is a popular venue for people of all ages.

Farmers’ markets have proliferated in recent years from the first one in Bath, UK established in September 1997 in response to discussions about the Local Agenda 21 Commission. There are now over 500 in the UK.

Only a mile from Chicago’s downtown skyscrapers, the Lincoln Park market stalls are full of a wide range of produce and provide a marvellous contrast of colours.

Sustainability and environmental issues are key concerns for producers and many of the farms have full organic credentials or are certified green.

Farmers’ markets are not-for-profit bodies and have been increasingly popular in the US. They are overseen by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In the last seven years they have increased from 1755 to 7175, making a 17% increase in the last year alone.

But this is not big business like the average 450 acre farms in the prairies of Illinois and Iowa, where millions of tons of field corn (or maize) are grown every year for home beef production, for the rapidly expanding Chinese market and for ethanol production.

Typically farmers’ markets are made up of small producers with orchards or perhaps a 7 acre garden farm – with intense cultivation of tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, fruits etc – or others breeding cattle and pigs with specialist production of smoked meats. Most farms are under 50 acres and have to be within a defined radius; in Chicago’s case this is 300 miles, though for other markets it is a lot less.

A campaign of the market at present is to encourage shoppers to pledge to be ‘locavores‘, only buying and eating produce from within a defined local area.

Often the vegetable producers will be supported by CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) schemes where members of the local community guarantee to take a box of vegetables every week during the growing season. While people on benefits with food vouchers can shop here, prices of the produce are on the high side and tend to attract shoppers with more disposable income, higher qualifications and an interest in environmental issues.

The same however does not apply to the farmers’ markets in rural areas where jobs are limited and wages low and unemployment, well over the national rate of 9%, is hitting communities hard.

A New York Times article “Vegetable gardens are booming in a fallow economy” (9th September 2011) describes the situation in East Kentucky in the Appalachian foothills.

Here rural residents are turning over their ground and selling the surplus from their gardens at low cost to the elderly and unemployed, who look to squeeze their budgets to make ends meet.

As Tim Woods, Professor of Agricultural Economy at Kentucky University puts it: “You won’t see certified organic products or fancy marketing here. It’s a very different world.” But the growth is similar with a doubling of markets there since 2004.

The simple building opposite was originally a shepherd’s cottage in Cumbria on the moors above Penrith. Despite its proximity to a road and bridleway to Selah Bridge, it has all the feel of a wild retreat with a stunning panorama.

All these buildings are set in magnificent landscapes. The highest at 4400m is a Civil War frontier post on the 18 km ‘Rooftop of Africa traverse’ in Ethiopia’s Simien mountains; the lowest is 300 BC Mousa Broch in the Shetlands at 6m. We have learnt as we have collected the images that there is a key ingredient. Behind each of the pictures is a human story of engagement with that landscape – a story of toil, travel, exploration, warfare, farming and so on. Who has built them and why? Who has lived here? Who has left? How does this nomadic child in Kyrgyzstan on horseback with his father on the ancient Silk Road receive his schooling at 3500m?

To expand on our pictures, we have included some photos which show the people living there and hint at their life stories. Most recently we have added photos taken on the classic Haute Route long distance walk between Chamonix and Zermatt; and from South India’s Western Ghats in Kerala where at 1600 metres, technology has made it possible for families in remote villages to watch World Cup cricket via satellite dishes.

Most poignantly we have included a triptych of images of crofts at Calgary Bay on the island of Mull. Deserted by crofters in poverty in the 19th century, they are a reminder of how families then just as now are forced to leave their homelands in search of work and a new life. Does the photo below of Calgary Bay with its rays of sun piercing a cold sea reflect that new life or the chimera that has betrayed so many migrants in the past?

The gallery has been a great cooperative venture and we hope that in reading this you will want to send us other pictures for inclusion. We now have 57 photos, of which half have been supplied by other people. We would like to express our thanks to Barney Harford, Chloe Harford, David Harrison, John Loudon, Liz Moore, Jim Richardson and lastly Mog Empson for his translation of the wording on a refuge wall (see opposite) in Tiger Leaping Gorge In China. We have been greatly encouraged by their support.

Don’t forget to click here for a look at the photos in the Gallery! If you would like a full size image (2Mb-3Mb) of one of these photos to print out or for a Christmas present just email me (ian@lakelandbelvedere.com) for a copy. And if you like what you see on the site, why not pass the details to your friends?