April in Cumbria

A post-Easter break in Cumbria, after a very busy Easter weekend volunteering.  In fact, of the ten days just before we left I worked  nine, culminating in Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.  The world and his wife were certainly out to tea on those days.  

Sample coffee-shop scenario:  Couple approach the counter with some urgency.  Must be looking for the toilets, I think.  But no: it is 2018.  He says,"Do you have almond milk?"  and looks quite put out when we don't.  I blame the supermarkets.

So, yes - baby lambs

Banks sparking with celandines

And snow...

at no great height, on one of our favourite walks, Sale Fell.  We were surprised to find that this snow did not melt but evaporated as the morning wore on.

The Skiddaw massif, and some of the strange ridge and furrow features highlighted by the snow.

Unusually for us, we ate lunch at one of the classic Lake District beauty spots, Ashness Bridge, along with a crowd of others.

We were very surprised to see a young woman actually in the water with a tripod set up, so determined to capture the ultimate image that she essentially spoilt the view for everyone else for a good half hour.

On our way north we went up the A1 and across the A66, a high level route which crosses the Pennines.  The road was closed just before Brough because of an earlier accident so we detoured via Kirby Stephen, a very pleasant little market town.

  "Must come here again," I said to my husband.  Be careful what you wish for.

On our return, we set off briskly with a seven hour drive ahead and were making good time as we passed Brough on our way up the A66.  Suddenly, the traffic came to a dead halt.  There had been an incident of some sort a few hundred yards ahead of us (we never did discover what it was).

I've always wondered what the term "atrocious weather conditions" actually means: now, I know.  We were there in that jam for about an hour and a half, while it blew a gale outside.  Eventually the traffic cops began to turn all the cars, on to the carriageway leading back towards Brough, leaving the very many heavy goods vehicles to wait for the road to be cleared. And so we got to see Kirkby Stephen again, rather sooner than we expected.