Snow and Ice

Well, we got Christmas and New Year out of the way without any dramas. It was the first New Years Eve since my father died, and our first for many years not spent with him. Instead we spent the evening with our friends John and Carolyn, at their home in Ripon. It was a cold night, with snow on the ground, but after a fantastic meal we decided to walk into the City Centre to bring in the New Year in the Market Place - and we had a lovely night too!  Back home for a glass of Buck's Fizz and then to bed (2am). The following morning, after a superb cooked breakfast, we made our way back home via Pateley Bridge and Stump Cross Caverns. To our surprise Park View Stores were open in Bridgehousegate, where you can find the finest flapjack known to man. We bought 10 (yes, 10!) slices, then drove up to Stump Cross for another breakfast - a tradition we've tried to keep up for the last 10 years or so. Conditions on Greenhow Hill were a bit of a surprise, considering the year before when the entire village was like a winter wonderland - totally frosted over. Yes, there was snow; but Greenhow is usually a world apart from anywhere else, and really there was very little up there.

LET IT SNOW

Then of course the snow arrived - and most of the country was paralysed! Julian and I managed to get into work every day during the worst of the weather, and spent most of the Breakfast Show fielding phone calls from schools reporting closures. Snow in the dales of course provides some fantastic photo opportunities, but we decided to head for the Lake District, where we expected to be met with snow-covered mountains and fells. It wasn't to be though - really there was very little on the ground, and we made our way from Penrith down through the lakes and back home via the A65. If only we'd turned right onto the A66 it was blocked just a few miles to the east, with massive drifts! A few days later though we did manage to get some pretty impressive pictures around the Three Peaks, in particular at Ribblehead.

ICE, ICE BABY

The next thing the weather threw at us was freezing rain, covering the region in deadly sheets of ice. Lancashire County Council had come in for particular criticism due to it's policy of not gritting any side roads, housing estates or anything that wasn't a major through route. But when the ice came they simply had to take action. Before eight in the morning that first day Skipton Police alone reported more than a dozen accidents. Schools closed again because of the danger posed by the ice, and again Julian and I were on our own. Listeners started to play Spot the Gritter, and there were even rumours that gritting teams were being accompanied by police for their own safety. (Not true). Now it's the big thaw, and guess what? Everybody seems to be surprised that river levels have gone up, and there's some flooding! As far as I'm concerned the snow, ice and flooding are inconvenient, but at last we seem to be having a proper winter! Kids have been out on sledges for the first time in decades, having a whale of a time, we've got some fabulous photos, and hopefully next summer we'll have a lot less bugs and nasty stinging insects around. What we probably WILL have though - is a hosepipe ban!

Ribblehead in the rain!

It's been a hugely busy weekend, with work starting on alterations to the Broughton Hall studios on Saturday morning, me at Ribblehead and Julian at Richmond Swimming Pool on Sunday. Saturday was the better day weather wise; in fact Sunday was pretty appalling really, as we had to walk the length of the Ribblehead viaduct and conduct several interviews in the pouring rain. It might not sound very far - crossing Yorkshire's most famous viaduct - but the total distance was around two miles.

I wasn't particularly suitably dressed, having put on jeans, waxed jacket and wide-brimmed leather hat, but my companions on the walk, Tom Lister (Carl King on Emmerdale) and ITV weather man Jon Mitchell had obviously put more thought into their attire. Jon in particular was dressed in waterproofs from head to toe, I guess having had inside information! Another little secret I can let you into is that Jon has a personalised, weather-related number plate - I wonder if you can guess what it includes?!
Jon Mitchell (left above) and Tom Lister (right)

I met up with Tony Doveston of the Yorkshire air Ambulance, who told me - despite the lousy weather conditions - he was hoping the helicopter would fly in for the event - and it made it! The cloud base was obviously very low and there was driving rain, but the aircraft flew in virtually on time. We reckon somewhere approaching 4,000 people turned up to take part in what will be the final chance to walk over the viaduct for many years, which was simply staggering. Money raised from the event will benefit (amongst others) the Cave Rescue Organisation, the Air Ambulance and the Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Other people I met on the day included old friends Keith and Linda, who reminded me the last time I met up with them was around seven years ago at Pateley Show, Ruth Annison of the Wensleydale Railway, and lots of the guys from Appleby Rotary who were doing a fantastic job of marshaling traffic. I was delighted to have been invited along for the day, and I must thank Keith Lumley of Network Rail for organising my visit. I'll find out how Julian got on in the warmth of Richmond Pool in the morning!