Sunday 1 March 2015

The Old Man Obliterated: A Real Winter Walk. . .


In my last post, I enthused about the perfect winter walk during our recce at Coniston. Fast forward a couple of weeks to the actual walk with our rambling group and you get a very different set of photos.  This is what I love about the Lakes and country walking in general; the times of day, the weather, the seasons - it's never the same walk twice.

It started out promising.  No sun, but it was clear and dry.


The woods were greener.


And darker.


The water was choppier.


And then rain turned into a short spell of hail. And then the white stuff started falling.  Just random, rather pretty flakes to start.



Then it got heavier.  By the time we were on the top of Carron Crag the visibility was nil and the wind was fierce.


And yet, if you are going to be out walking in a snow shower, deep woods are not a bad place to be.  I found the snow quite magical.  It felt like home.



No sign at all of the Old Man.


Until we came to the very end of the walk and the skies cleared.  The mountain looked even better with its new white coat.


And the clear air and still puddles gave off fantastic reflections.



It took the last ten minutes of the walk to get a decent view and the slightest glimpse of pale sunshine but nevertheless, it was still an invigorating walk enjoyed by all.  Enough snow had fallen down the back of my neck though to soak my fleece, so I was quite happy to seek the warmth of the pub.



March has definitely come in like a lion.  The Liverpud is leading another walk on the last weekend of the month; we'll see if the weather behaves more like a lamb.

2 comments:

Sara said...

Ah, wow. That's some rain that my waterproofs wouldn't survive. Good for you though- those views at the end were so worth it!

Blithe Spirit said...

I actually stayed dry for most of it. The worse was my mittens which got soaked quite quickly. I did bring an extra pair, but by then my hands were very cold.