Autumn

After a late August and September in which high pressure seemed to last forever and we were blessed with blue skies, warm temperatures and light winds its been a stark reminder across the weekend and especially this morning to wake up to heavy rain; blustery winds; car headlights and an overcast gloom. Autumn has arrived in Cumbria! I'm not looking forward to the point later today when it will be necessary to brave the wind & rain to sort out the kit from yesterday's gorge walk!

With the change in season comes the change in work pattern. We are so thankful for being  much more busy through July, August & September than we could ever have envisaged and its interesting to note now that in the present and over the coming few months this "busyness" simply alters in character as weekends and evenings begin to bear the brunt of the work load.

We have just had a great weekend when on Saturday we spoke at a Cumbrian conference of Church & Family workers on how they might consider using the outdoors in their work - the seminar brought much positive discussion and we anticipate with optimism & eagerness what may develop. On Sunday we "hosted" a family gorge walk at Ash Ghyll Beck in the North Pennines, we've spent much time there this summer and on Sunday it dawned on me that I've been taking groups to Ash Ghyll for 20 years now!! The weather was extremely kind to us: the rains had ceased about 24 hours prior to our visit as such water levels had returned to a very "acceptable" level for a fun afternoon for the two families & the couple that joined us. For our first hour in the gorge the sun shone & the air temperature was mild it wasn't until the final minutes that the cold started to become a significant factor and by this time: wading, scrambling, jumping & sliding had been enjoyed by everybody.

 

Sadly, unless the autumn turns out to be much milder than usual this could well have been our last visit to Ash Ghyll in 2014 but God willing we'll be back next year. Lying ahead this week are a big day of mine exploration and what is likely to be another wet day in a Lake District ghyll with our friends from the Canoes, Mountains & Caves "Community" this coming weekend - we are looking forward to this.

 

There is some video of the jumping at the main waterfall in Ash Ghyll that we will hope to post separately in the next day or two on our YouTube channel, keep an eye out for it!!