Weekend away

Just back from our latest trip north, mainly to check that the cottage was okay after the recent cold weather. Good news is it's survived more-or-less intact in spite of temperatures plummeting to -15c and snow that lay around for weeks, so that's a relief.

We did one or two more chores including hanging some curtains and putting up a blind, but yesterday it was such unexpectedly gorgeous weather that we said 'sod it' and went out for a walk instead.

Of course the minute we got the car out we ran into freezing fog but it looked very pretty and atmospheric so we went for it anyway and were really glad we did, because we soon climbed out of the mist and found ourselves in lovely, and surprisingly warm, sunshine. There was still the odd patch of snow on the path but mostly it had cleared and wasn't too wet underfoot, although clearly the fells have suffered damage from both the floods and the recent snow. There are places where the tracks are almost washed away, or where stone walls have been brought down by the weight of water, or patches of hillside slipped.

The walk we did was a favourite of ours from Ambleside to an ancient packhorse bridge called High Sweden Bridge. It's at the foot of Scandale, a relatively unknown valley/pass which is wild, remote and utterly beautiful, even at this time of year. This time we only went as far as the bridge but still thoroughly enjoyed it - and the incredible views of snow-patched mountains looming out of the mist. Sadly, my lovely Panasonic Lumix camera, bought only a couple of years ago, has developed a fault and the photos hardly came out. Here's a couple, just to give you a taster of what it was like: