Dear Weather...

Dear Weather,

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to thank you for your spectacular performance of late.  I'm sure many people all over the world take your offerings for granted, but not me, I want you to know how truly grateful I am for the many and varied conditions you are able to muster.

Dungeon Ghyll

Take yesterday for example, what a wonderful autumn day.  Clear blue skies and sun all day.  The trees and fells must have looked glorious.  I say "must have looked" because I was stuck indoors in Kirkham, all day, but never mind that eh?  I had wonderful views of a fabulously sunny car park and clear visibility of the red brick wall opposite my window which the wonderful weather conditions allowed me to admire in infinite detail as I sat gazing longingly outside.  Still, it allowed me time to dream about what adventures I could enjoy on the fells at the weekend.

So what little surprise did you have in store for me today?  More gorgeous sunshine?  Of course not, you're anything but predictable and that's what I love most about you.  Honest.  No, you decided today would be a great day to top up all those gorgeous lakes and waterfalls by unleashing hour after hour of torrential rain.  Undeterred we headed off to Langdale feeling sure that you'd let up a little during the afternoon.  Choc full of optimism we parked up at the bottom of Stickle Ghyll and began our climb upwards.

Top marks for filling the Ghyll up, it looked marvellous as it crashed downwards, though the continuous downpour did make it a little tricky for taking pictures.  Never mind, we managed to grab a bite to eat during a quick lull and scampered up to the tarn before you spotted us again.  Realising that we were now somewhat exposed and that the tops of the fells had been missing, presumed misted, for some time we opted to avoid the summits and instead head directly for Dungeon Ghyll.  At this point I'd particularly like to thank you for the strong blustery wind and hailstones, nice touch.

Stickle Ghyll

In a break from the norm you managed to remain remarkable consistent as we slithered downwards.  I think it's also only fair to thank whomever laid the 'steps' along the route, honestly using sheer flat rocks and angling them 45 degrees downwards was exactly what we needed to help us on our descent, it speeded things up considerably.

And so to the end of the walk.  We noticed that you'd eased up slightly as we headed for the car park so we decided to double back and try and get a few shots of the bottom of Dungeon Ghyll, but there's no sneaking past you is there buddy?  Oh no.  Within 5 minutes you'd redoubled your efforts, though I'm sure you only meant to fill the Ghyll and make it that little bit more spectacular for us, didn't you?

Anyway, we're home and dry now and were particularly pleased to see the rain easing by the minute as we neared home, it made sitting in the warm dry car just that little bit easier.

So, thank you again for all your recent efforts, we both feel you've really surpassed yourself so far this weekend.  Now please don't think I'm being ungrateful but is it at all possible to ease up on the monsoon a little tomorrow?  I think the Lakes and Ghylls are quite full now and we'd rather like to go out and take some pictures of them, prefereably in sunshine.

Many thanks.

Warm regards

Beth