Update on road and weather conditions

The road to Ravenseat, at the back of Hill Top

Impossible to get to the sheep this way......



.......and this

Got there by going off road and through the fields.  Sheep very grateful, its a hungry time for them.

Mmm...  this is my normal route to work...

don't think I'll be getting there in a hurry!

 

Nobody on the C2C path today!  And I sincerely hope nobody is until this bad weather is over.

Snow Mountain

Our snow pyramid that I posted yesterday has turned into a snow mountain today.  However it is doing a good job of sheltering the dog runs from the worst of the snow.

There are stone steps somewhere under this lot!

Chris' van has almost disappeared!  Fortunately I moved my vehicle yesterday to a more sheltered place.  Not that I am
planning on going anywhere!






 

Update regarding motorists on moors in snow

It is 9.45 p.m. and Chris has just arrived in.  He has been down to Keld on the tractor to make sure his Dad is okay and when he came back up to Pry House he could see that a vehicle had driven past our house in the last hour so he went to investigate.  Not far along the road he came across a man walking this way.  He had managed to drive about 2 miles past Pry House and then he got his car stuck in a snow drift.  When Chris came across him he had been walking for about an hour in a blizzard in ordinary shoes and an ordinary coat!!  He was about done in.  He got in the tractor and Chris took him back to his car and pulled him out and got him turned round.  He was on his way to Glasgow!!

On the way back Chris met another vehicle whose driver was reluctant to stop and not pleased to be told he had to turn round.

Did Chris get any thanks from these idiots (sorry, men) no, did he hell.  Honestly there is just no excuse for such idiotic behaviour.  There are two road closed signs up,  it is dark, there is a blizzard blowing and there is no mobile reception.  A recipe for disaster if people won't heed the warnings.

No Two Years Alike

A year ago, as this weekend, I walked to the top of Swinner Gill in the sunshine with blue skies overhead.  It was glorious; the birds were singing, early spring flowes were blooming and frogs were spawning in shallow, clear water.

 



This is the scene today and it couldn't be more different. It is, of course, not the same view as the photo above, as it is not fit for man nor beast to be up Swinner Gill today and, in fact, these photos don't do justice to the truly appalling arctic conditions that is the reality of our weather at this moment.  It has been snowing all day and the howling wind has blown and whipped the snow into a frenzy.  It is by far the worst weather we have had all winter.  Thankfully we haven't started lambing yet but we are greatly concerned for our farming friends further down the dale and in Wensleydale who will be lambing already.  They will be having a pitifully dreadful time of it. 

The snow is drifting making moving about impossible except in a tractor however that hasn't stopped an endless stream of cars and vans trying.  The A66, the main trans-pennine route in the north of England, has been closed all day so drivers think they will try the B6270.  Why they think a single track road across the moors will be passable I can't imagine! 

A Mad March Day!

We have had a day of very unseasonal weather.  It was a case of dashing out to do jobs outside between heavy snow showers.  It looked quite pretty for a while and then ...........

..... five minutes later it started again, blowing in and keeping us in!

My new planter looks more like a December Christmas present rather than a March Mother's Day gift!