Friday 14 August.
As I said just now, it did not rain overnight, nor, in the morning did it pour. It was very cloudy, though, and in view of the90% chance of rain, I put on the waterproofs and stomped off over Dunmail Raise and down the paths and forest roads high above Thirlmere, and, later, in increasingly unrainy weather, during which the tops cleared of cloud, along by the lake itself.
I visited a tea garden, the signs of which declared it to be “Open” to walkers and cyclists. Promising arrows lead me through their collection of turkeys, geese and ducks. But it wasn;t open. The place was deserted, except for the turkeys geese and ducks. None of these were in the mood to serve tea, though, so I continued along the rather attractive and enjoyable bridleway leading to the Church at st Johns, but not specialy happy that the LDNP weatherline had caused me to abandon my high-level tramp over Helvellyn and the Dodds. I could have done most of it by now, and with clear views. It wasn;t even windy. The forecast was for 55mph gusts.
Bugger.
Then, at last, at 2:15 pm, it started raining. I had the tent up and was brewing up on a campsite near Threlkeld by 2:45. By 3:00 I was, once again, tussling with Kylie Minogue’s troublesome lingerie. I was happy about the rain. See? I could have got wet, there.
Another 12 miles and 850 feet of climbing done.
The Omens (Genjii, Martin, LDNP, local farmer and the scouse couple in the next tent) were all darkly prophet about the prospects for dry socks for the morrow, though. I went to the pub and had some strange brown and frothy liquid which nevertheless had soothing effects on me till about half past two when I had to step out into the storm for a wee.
As I said just now, it did not rain overnight, nor, in the morning did it pour. It was very cloudy, though, and in view of the90% chance of rain, I put on the waterproofs and stomped off over Dunmail Raise and down the paths and forest roads high above Thirlmere, and, later, in increasingly unrainy weather, during which the tops cleared of cloud, along by the lake itself.
I visited a tea garden, the signs of which declared it to be “Open” to walkers and cyclists. Promising arrows lead me through their collection of turkeys, geese and ducks. But it wasn;t open. The place was deserted, except for the turkeys geese and ducks. None of these were in the mood to serve tea, though, so I continued along the rather attractive and enjoyable bridleway leading to the Church at st Johns, but not specialy happy that the LDNP weatherline had caused me to abandon my high-level tramp over Helvellyn and the Dodds. I could have done most of it by now, and with clear views. It wasn;t even windy. The forecast was for 55mph gusts.
Bugger.
Then, at last, at 2:15 pm, it started raining. I had the tent up and was brewing up on a campsite near Threlkeld by 2:45. By 3:00 I was, once again, tussling with Kylie Minogue’s troublesome lingerie. I was happy about the rain. See? I could have got wet, there.
Another 12 miles and 850 feet of climbing done.
The Omens (Genjii, Martin, LDNP, local farmer and the scouse couple in the next tent) were all darkly prophet about the prospects for dry socks for the morrow, though. I went to the pub and had some strange brown and frothy liquid which nevertheless had soothing effects on me till about half past two when I had to step out into the storm for a wee.
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2 comments:
It seems to me that the Weather Forcasters (is there an 'e' after the 'r' there?) delight in telling us how accurate their short-term predictions are, when in fact their weekly prognosis (see how I am using 'predictions' and 'prognosis' instead of the 'F' word there?) is generally more reliable.
For instance - 'It will be windly and unsettled this week' means it will be windy and rain a lot. And 'It will be sunny on the tops today' means it will be windy and rain a lot.
I could do that job!
I wondered if LDNP gave out bad forecasts to keep people off the fells during the week. And good forecasts on Saturdays to make people who've just decided not to bother going to the Lakes becasue of the weather to change their minds.
Visibility will be poor except where it's good.
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