Thursday 28 June 2012

Stormy weather.

I have been to Sedbergh today to meet my God-daughter for lunch. It is one of my favourite journeys - around thirty miles through the most beautiful scenery and right over the watershed of the Pennines. Both the River Ure and the River Eden rise at the top - one flows into the Irish Sea and one into the North Sea.

The hedges on either side of the narrow roads are now fully in leaf and at the moment are swathed in wild roses in all shades from cream to deep pink. As they grow they stretch their tendrils out into the road so that you feel as though you are driving through an arch of wild roses in some places. The cow parsley is finished and in its place, along the verges, are ox-eye daisies and the wild blue cranesbill, which is so common up here.

There are few villages but there are cottages dotted here and there on the road side, most of them washed white and most with hanging baskets outside. I have one or two places which are landmarks in my journey and one of these is a delightful little cottage called Badger Dubb. Today their garden is full of larkspur - a gigantic splash of blue as you drive past.

On Sedbergh Moor and sheep are loose and the lambs - by now half grown - saunter across the road taking absolutely no notice of the scant traffic. Some of the sheep have already been shorn, so that they look lumpy and ungainly. The rest - probably belonging to a different farmer - wait for the shearer to arrive.

Between Leyburn and Sedbergh I went through sunshine, drizzle and heavy thundery rain. In Leyburn it was 15 degrees and very cloudy; in Hawes it was 22 degrees and bright sunshine. When we came out of the cafe after lunch (brie and cranberry sandwich with salad since you ask)there was the most horrendous downpour. I suppose we would call it a cloudburst. When it finally eased off enough for me to start my journey back the water was pouring off the fells on to the road and then down the road into dips, so that every once in a while there was deep water on the road. I found it quite scary but managed to get behind another vehicle so that I wasn#t the first one to 'dip my toe' in the water.

Home safe and sound at 4pm with delicious pieces of wedding cake for tea. We sat in the back of the car and looked at my god-daughter's wedding album - wonderful photographs which brought the day back as though it were yesterday (it is already three months away).

12 comments:

John Going Gently said...

pat
sounds like my day ( minus the nice food).... wet, windy and very damp here.....
oh where is the sun eh?

Unknown said...

Sounds like a lovely day...and lunch.
its so nice to enjoy times with family...and so special to share photographs and relive the day.
Nice post ..you made me smile:) Thankyou.

Vicky x

Hildred said...

What a beautiful drive through the wild roses and hedges - did you have the windows open to let the fragrance in? Sorry it wasn't the same going back.

Thank you, Pat, for the heads up to Charles about the Olympic Torch and the Coningsby Runners.

Heather said...

Is it really 3 months since your god-daughter's wedding? Your journey sounds delightful and I'm glad you got back safely. We had similar conditions this afternoon and drove through one mini flood across the road but turned round rather than tackle a much larger one. This morning there was a two foot layer of mist above the river Severn and before the sun broke through it was so hot and steamy. What strange weather we are having.

angryparsnip said...

Lovely day and so much rain.
We are on monsoon watch just hoping we get some rain this summer.

cheers, parsnip

Cloudia said...

an adventure!




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Arija said...

So glad you got home safely with all that wild weather. Sheeting water over roads, especially on bends can so easily cause aquaplaning. No fun at all.
Good to know you had a lovely day not withstanding the weather.

ArcticFox said...

sounds like a grand day out bar the rain.... it was about 20 degrees all day here but the rain kept coming in similar bursts..... was hot at work last night - especially as my head almost touches those silly little spotlights in the roof......

The Weaver of Grass said...

From our local news last night it seems that it was the same all over the North of England. Water can be very scary I find. Thank you for your responses.

Golden West said...

We months already since the wedding - time really does fly! How fun to look at the pictures together and bring back the day.

Our visiting cat has his own bowl and blanket and makes himself very much at home here, so we keep food for him, just in case.

Golden West said...

"We" should read "three"!

kristieinbc said...

This post was so beautifully written it made me want to hop on a plane and fly directly to England, then spend a month or two wandering the back roads. I am glad you had such a nice day!