The Lakes...our near miss!

We have safely arrived home after a rather eventful weekend in the Lake District.  It is so typically me to be holidaying in the West Lakes when unseasonal blizzards set in!  We had a very hazardous moment when our Sat Nav took us down a route that crossed Corney Fell , which turned out to be the second highest road in the Lake District.  It was the day before the snow fell and we were totally caught out.  The thick ice on the high roads made it treacherous to drive on, but the gradient made it impossible to turn round and go back.  We inched along having to stop every few hundred yards to walk out the next challenging obstacle.  Four times, I was terrified and in genuine fear for our safety.  My baby was sleeping in his carseat and I prayed he'd stay peacefully oblivious to the danger we were in.  At one point my husband lost control and our Galaxy hurtled out of control down an icy slope with a steep incline to our right.  To see my husband start to panic was the worst thing, because he is such a confident and competent driver.  If he starts to panic, I know it's bad! Thankfully, he was able to gain enough control to get two wheels onto a grass verge which allowed the brakes to work enough to stop our descent.  Unfortunately, my son Joe was following us in convoy and he failed to get control of his vehicle and crashed into our bumper.  Luckily our big car had enough inertia to stop him without pushing us over the edge of the incline. If we hadn't been in his path, he could have gone off the road...I've never been happier about a prang!!  We were very shaken and my daughter hit her head on the side window.  Thankfully though, we were all OK.  It took us nearly 2 hours to drive six miles...it was the worst, most frightening journey I have ever been on.  I shudder when I think about what could have happened, but knowing we were all OK and that the cars were not too damaged, bar a cracked bumper, made me feel lucky to still be able to continue my holiday.

Our family meal was meant to me on the Staurday night, but the icy roads and our traumatic day made us loathe to venture back out.  However, the restaurant was good enough to move our reservation and set menu to the Sunday at noon instead.  So we went en masse to Brockwood Hall to celebrate my parents' 55th wedding anniversary in style.  As most of us are vegetarian we arranged a suitable menu in advance.  But when the "vegetable" soup came out, it was so chicken-y i had to query it.  We were told it was leek and potato...not convinced!!  At the least it was made with chicken stock.  The lunch was redeemed by a rather delicious goat's cheese and leek tart served with roast veg trimmings...but again it was let down a little by the fact that the gravy was not vegetarian.  Dry roast spuds are really not as good as a nice gravy covered tattie...but overall the meal was good.  Dessert was a perfect sticky toffee pudding with ice cream.  Lovely!  Coffee served in the bar completed our meal.  We forgave them for soup-gate because they were so ameniable about moving our booking...and the food was generally good.

We searched the house for evidence of paranormal activity.  Apart from a couple of unexplained knockings, my mum feeling someone touch her head, Fred being fixated by an old stone wall and me thinking I saw my sister lying on her bed (when she was still downstairs!!) we saw no concrete evidence of the Lady in Gray said to walk the halls of our house.  A nighttime walk of the grounds was exhilarating, but we witnessed no ghostly goings-on. 

The snow that initially gave us a beautiful sprinkle, soon started falling in huge flakes.  The land was soon covered in a good three inches of white snow.  It looked beautiful and Freddy was amazed by his first time out in the snow on his own two feet!  But the potential hazards of the weather conditions, after our near miss, made us eager to leave during daylight hours, rather than stay on and enjoy our last day.  But the beauty of the snow covered Lakes was breathtaking.  Our journey home took much longer because of the road conditions...but we got home safe and sound.  The rest of our party have also all arrived home safely.  It was a very eventful weekend...and it was wonderful to be surrounded by the whole family!




Corney Fell before the drama!



The gorgeous kids!