Walking around Windermere the weekend of Storm Desmond may not have been the most sensible of activities but it was certainly invigorating. Wading through rivers that were roads and ponds that were fields. My boots were still wet a week later so I had to resort to putting them on the radiator! As you can see, the sun came out on the Sunday but the water levels rose so high that the road past Kendal was impassable. So I had to stay an extra night. The Hotel Hydra in Windermere was fabulous. They put me up, dinner B&B for nothing, for which I will be forever grateful. It did however, make me think about all those who had been flooded out of their homes and now, with the weather continuing to thrash the north, more people are being evacuated. The hotel was on standby to take people who had nowhere to go which is great community spirit.
On the Monday, we managed to escape the area as the rain had subsided enough.
So from a walkers perspective, this has taught me that you can have fun in wet weather but make sure you have a good local guide to help you negotiate the obstacles keeping you safe by taking alternative routes; make sure you have full and sensible waterproofs; plan the pub stop at the end of the walk and not in the middle as you will not want to put your waterproofs or boots back on if they are drenched!
Below you will see the lake district flood compared to a big puddle on Dartmoor recently! Not quite the same but I had to do a detour to avoid wet boots on Dartmoor. In the Lake District we had given up caring by then as we were wet through! the main concern was getting back to the hotel without falling in the water - this we did with some team work and expert guidance from Tom - thank you Tom!
On the Monday, we managed to escape the area as the rain had subsided enough.
So from a walkers perspective, this has taught me that you can have fun in wet weather but make sure you have a good local guide to help you negotiate the obstacles keeping you safe by taking alternative routes; make sure you have full and sensible waterproofs; plan the pub stop at the end of the walk and not in the middle as you will not want to put your waterproofs or boots back on if they are drenched!
Below you will see the lake district flood compared to a big puddle on Dartmoor recently! Not quite the same but I had to do a detour to avoid wet boots on Dartmoor. In the Lake District we had given up caring by then as we were wet through! the main concern was getting back to the hotel without falling in the water - this we did with some team work and expert guidance from Tom - thank you Tom!
So tomorrow it's out on Dartmoor again to do another quality hill walk working towards my final Hill and Moorland Leader assessment.
Wishing you a great celebration closing 2015 and an equally successful, fun walking 2016! Katie
Wishing you a great celebration closing 2015 and an equally successful, fun walking 2016! Katie