A revisit

 There is not many places that I feel the urge to re visit within a week or so but this place certainly drew me back, but this time decided that I was going to incorporate it into an overnight stop over. 

Lessons were learnt though & the main one being that the mountain weather forecast is not very accurate currently, some say due to the lack of civilian aircraft reports being sent in, I dont know how true it is, but last Sunday they were well off the mark.

Mountain forecast for this particular range was light winds with 9mm of light rain mainly on Monday morning. 

On route whilst still driving the first storm broke overhead and it came down with such force that I had to pull the car over into a lay by as the wind screen wipers even on full pelt could not clear the water away & made driving dangerous. Almost 30 minutes the rain came down with such force that the drains simply could not cope & places started flooding. As it eased I drove onto my location where I was going to leave the car for the night & had to sit out another storm in the car for another 30 minutes or so until it eased. Finally the rain subsided and I could start the day.

Ready for the off, I had a feeling that the sealskinz socks I had on were going to be needed, it was like walking in a wet sponge the ground was sodden.

As I started to gain altitude another storm broke to the south of me, thankfully it did not come in my direction.

The natural limestone amphitheatre of this place really has grabbed my attention and Ive been all over the world at some spectacular places but this place which is less than 50 miles away from my front door certainly captures me.

Its a place I will certainly go back to over the seasons to capture the ever changing mood of it.

The semi feral locals which roam the fells didn't seem to mind me being there and even came over for a look.

I really could fill the post with nothing but photographs there was so many different views I saw & everyone was different.

Looking up at my next way point there seemed to be a light dusting of snow, which actually turned out to be a covering of hail stones.

Remnants of the hail stones still lying on the sand & grass around the tarn.

It was getting late & I needed to sort out a home for the night, my boots were sodden & the decision to wear the sealskinz socks was a welcome one as they remained dry although everything else was sodden.

Not a bad view & it certainly beats sitting at home watching a TV screen.

Home for the night set up, fed & watered it was time to watch the last rays of the day disappear.

The rain did come again in the early hours of Monday morning, so much that a rip appeared in my lightweight tent, which I would never have taken if I knew the weather was going to be that bad.

Thankfully I was dry inside & remained that way until it was time to pack away & walk the sodden ground back to the car & a return to civilisation to find that many homes & roads had been flooded out causing major disruption over the Dales. Oh how wrong the forecast had been!