Happy Christmas From High Pike

The last two months it has rained almost every day, so what are the chances of a dry day on Christmas Day? Er, none! We are promised dry till midday though, so we pack up our lunch and head off. In a case of deja vu, we park at Fellside with the initial intention of heading along Dale Beck. Another couple leave their car just ahead of us and head that way, so we change our minds! We have absolutely no intention of walking with others. We are antisocial. We like to walk in our own company or the company of people we chose to walk with, not random strangers! So after a cheery chat and wishing them a Merry Christmas we opt for the direct approach.

Happy Christmas!

Heading up Fell side Brow

Hay Gill from Deer Hills

Approaching the Summit, there's a fresh sprinkling of snow up here.

Summiteering Spaniel

It's cold on the top. Breeze puts her jumper on whilst we stop for lunch

Traditional Christmas Fare. Cheese and Onion Pasty and Tomato Soup!

My first ever (and possibly last) attempt at an iPhone selfie!

Heading Down to Nether Brow

I know this is crap, but for some reason I love it! Two back paws that seem to sum up what a happy little puppy they belong to! We're nearly back at the car now and it's just starting to mizzle, by the time we were home less than half an hour later it was siling it down. Perfect timing! Time to open the presents before we head down to Nick and Rose's to get well and truly fed and watered this evening!

Happy Christmas!

Roughton Gill - again!

So little chance for decent walks with the continuous rain and horrendous flooding and of course when the weather plays ball there are all the other commitments of retirement to fulfill. We have the chance of a shortish walk today so headed to one of our favourite local spots and walked up Dale Beck from Fellside.

Well we walked, Breeze charged about like a lunatic as usual

We realised as soon as we parked the car that the Blencathra must be about, and sure enough we had passed several followers along the first half mile. This walk is going to take ages if we stop and chat with any more! The hounds were up on the fell behind the path.

Coffee stop as we get to Roughton Gill

Time to head back. We normally cross the beck at Roughton Gill, but decided that given how much water there is about at the moment, we would be better to go back the way we had come up!

Back in the car, heading for home we stop to talk to another of the locals.

No more than 4 miles, this is a great walk when you want to stay low level and haven't got much time to spare.

Popping into Keswick

It's not unusual for us to be in Keswick, but today I needed to go to the Theatre to hand in our 'Friends' New Season booking form so we can get the best seats! The visibility was so good I had to take the camera whilst we gave wandered down to Friar's Crag.

Keswick is still suffering from the recent flooding and it will be a long time before everything is back to normal.

December 2015 Floods

We were heading up from Northamptonshire on Saturday. We left earlier than we had originally planned as the weather at home had been bad for over 24 hours and the lane in front of our house had been a river for quite some time. Also the forecast was horrendous for later in the day on Saturday.

Driving up the M6 everything was fine and dry but a bit blustery, until we got to Haydock where it started to rain. A few minutes further up the road and we hit it. Or maybe it hit us. Torrential rain and standing water everywhere. The one up side was that there was very little traffic on the road. Hardly any HGV's and most of the ones that were there, were on their side.

Once we got off the M6 at Penrith, we had a very slow drive back up the 7 miles to home. We couldn't go our normal way, it was blocked. We gingerly crept through villages with rivers for roads. In many places it was a question of working out the depth based on knowledge of the road and verges. I wouldn't have like to have made that drive on roads I didn't know well.

We made it back, and bar a couple of pools of water from small leaks, into a dry house. We are SO lucky. So many lives have been devastated. Homes and businesses washed away, many of them for the second time in a few years. It's going to be a long road to recovery for Cumbria.

I have copied a few of the masses of pictures that have been appearing on facebook, as a record for ourselves for the future.

Dunmail Raise - the main Keswick to Ambleside (North to South Lakes) road

Glenridding (there is supposed to be a road where the water is)

Glenridding

Cockermouth

Glenridding

Patterdale

Glenridding

Cockermouth

Keswick

Near Pooley Bridge

Keswick

The above photos and video are thanks to the following: Clive Hutchby; Beyond Imagination Photography; Lake Distirct; Heliopromo; Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team

Today, as things are calming down, we thought we would get out to one of our regular dog walking haunts at Mosedale. Carrock Fell thought otherwise though, it has slipped down onto the road and completely blocked it - and demolished a large section of wall too. Instead we thought we'd have a short walk up Bannerdale. It was short too. Bannerdale Beck is impassable and I don't think it will be too long before Bullfell beck bridge goes the same way as many others 

The track is supposed to carry on here

I don't think this will be the last demolished path and bridge we are going to see in the coming months

We have been so lucky. There are so many hundreds of folk who have been badly affected but other than the inconvenience of most of the cross county routes being closed, we have got off pretty much Scot free. We have had so many phone calls and messages from friends and relatives around the country asking if we are OK. Thank you, we are fine and really appreciate your concern.