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Main Boards => General Walking Discussion => Topic started by: henryb on 10:47:48, 03/03/18

Title: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: henryb on 10:47:48, 03/03/18
It is -11 on Slieve Donard in the Mournes and I decided to walk the Bangor coastal route only to find that I can't even drive down my lane because the snow is 3 inches deep! Yet other parts of Northern Ireland have very little. Is snow adversely affecting anyone else's plans? :(
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: Mel on 10:57:38, 03/03/18
No.  Not really.  Although I don't think where I live has had it as bad as other parts of the country.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: ninthace on 11:08:28, 03/03/18
If the thaw continues should be able to get out of my driveway by Monday!
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: MichaelUK on 11:17:05, 03/03/18
North Durham here, Consett, on the edge of the North Pennines. The snow is stopping me getting the car out to my usual starting points. The upside is Im exploring local areas. So no, the snow isnt stopping me getting out.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: phil1960 on 11:18:15, 03/03/18
No chance of getting mine or swmbo’s car near the main road anytime soon. But we got out walking locally with the dog yesterday and this morning so not all bad.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: April on 11:26:00, 03/03/18
beefy is still trying to get to Carlisle on the train so I didn't bother going into the Lakes today on my own although the buses are running properly again. I still feel crappy with this virus (when is it ever going to get better?  :'( ) so I had a lie in and I'm having a lazy day. It is snowing a bit outside now. Crikey I hope beefy doesn't get stranded on the train  :o
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: adalard on 11:41:11, 03/03/18
The road through our village was closed to traffic on Thursday and for some of Friday. Didn't stop people trying to get  through despite the terrible weather, some of whom ended up involuntarily "parking" their cars in snow drifts at the side of road. It opened again yesterday and buses had started a limited service by lunch time. The trains which did run on Thursday were all cancelled yesterday (and today, though today is because of a strike).


I fancied getting out in the snow, just a little ramble from the front door around local farmland but it's really misty out there and there's no views so there doesn't seem much point.  :-\ 
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: KimE on 12:21:38, 03/03/18
No problem with my snowshoes or skiis we have 30-40" of snow.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: Dovegirl on 12:25:55, 03/03/18
I'm not very keen on walking far out in the countryside in wintry weather, especially with traffic disruption, so I've been doing my usual walks from the door.  It was fun seeing snow on the beach here in Brighton and Hove, and I went up on to the rural fringe with views of the snow on the South Downs.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: Dyffryn Ardudwy on 13:42:14, 03/03/18
What Snow, both my friends in Deganwy and me in Dyffryn, have only had a very lite coating of snow, which melted very quickly.
The only issue in NW Wales was the extreme cold, so we have been very lucky compared to the rest of the Uk.

Any snow that falls on the North Wales coast is usually gone in a few hours, the Gulf Stream makes sure of that.

Only the very severe winter of 2010, where temperatures remained well below freezing from the start of Christmas to the end of January, did the snow hang around for any length of time.


There are certain benefits to living near the coast, you get the mayhem associated with the high winds brought by the SWesterlies, but the NE winds only bring severe windchill, the snow thankfully is never an issue on the North Welsh coast.


The early winter of 2010 was a very rare event, with the last large accumulation of heavy snow sticking around for weeks  back in 1981.


The mountains of Snowdonia catch most of the bad weather, leaving the coastal strips fairly protected from the extremes of winter snow.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: Owen on 13:43:05, 03/03/18
Well Cairngorm and Glenshee ski centers are still closed, by snow. I've been out on my XC skis locally and I have the Ochils hills right behind the house. We have about 12 to 18 inches of snow in the village but the main roads are all open now.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: Lee in Doncaster on 15:10:46, 03/03/18
KI suppose mt concern is public transport...it doesn't help that some trains aren't running today because of a strike.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: jimbob on 15:23:27, 03/03/18
KIME are you from Northumberland?  ;D What you are describing is proper to be concerned about weather.

On an Island such as ours surrounded on all sides by sea we do not frequently get huge falls of snow and what we do get usually clears fairly quickly.  That is the  reason why as a country we are never prepared. It is difficult to justify the huge spending involved for something that is not as regular or prolonged as a Scandinavian style winter. As a result every once in a while we get caught out.

Well those from south of the Tyne do anyway. Those from north of the Tyne sometimes wear long sleeved T shirts. ;)
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: Dyffryn Ardudwy on 15:56:22, 03/03/18
Heavy snowfall, and sub zero temperatures are nothing new here in the Uk.
Everytime it snows here, everything comes to a grinding halt, we simply cannot cope.

I will never forget the recent Chris Tarrant series, where is goes on these epic railway journey's, the one on Norway was a great insight to how to come with serious weather.

Why do other countries soldier on, in far more severe weather than anything we see in the Uk, and yet we come to a grinding halt, unable to cope, every time it starts to snow.

Surely we must have learnt a few lessons over the years, as this shutdown of the country has cost us many millions  yet again.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: Flanners on 16:23:43, 03/03/18
This snow has given me an appreciation of local footpaths and byways. I have been walking from my doorstep and have been amazed at some of the paths I have never walked and some of the beautiful scenery from different viewpoints that I have been cycling and driving past.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: rural roamer on 17:23:33, 03/03/18
I live in a village in Suffolk with a hill at either end of our road.  Today is the first time since Monday we have been out in the car.  Have been out for short walks every day. On Wednesday instead of playing tennis as usual we went for a walk followed by hot choc/mulled wine at the local pub!  ;)
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: BuzyG on 18:37:36, 03/03/18
The thaw has already started here in the South West.  Happily I was off Dartmoor before the snow hit in earnest, on Thursday.  I past several cars this morning, that were still very buried under the drifts, close to where I had been parked.  I did need my shovel once to get up to Meldon village hall and park up for today's walk up High Willhays.    :)
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: Skip on 19:10:12, 03/03/18
No, the snow hasn't stopped me getting out. However, I've been using the car less and avoiding minor roads.

For walking, I'm lucky enough to live in the country so I don't need to travel away from the village to walk. in fact i walked a few miles on snowy footpaths this afternoon.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: BuzyG on 19:33:19, 03/03/18
I spoke to a gentleman this morning, who lives next to where I parked, in Meldon Village.  He had tried to get out for a walk yesterday but could not get up the road on foot.  I was clambering over high drifts, just trying to get on to the moor this morning, in the thaw.  There were even cornices to avoid. Not something you expect on a Devon lane.  The going was much easier once I got off the road and onto Meldon dam.  So no guarantee of a walk, just because you live near by, if the weather is bad enough.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: sunnydale on 19:42:19, 03/03/18
This snow has given me an appreciation of local footpaths and byways. I have been walking from my doorstep .....................


Same here....and it's amazing how different the paths look under a blanket of snow.
I've seen some fabulous snow drifts today on a bridleway heading out of Bakewell. 8)
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: Dyffryn Ardudwy on 11:51:15, 04/03/18
Blimey what a change in the weather, its now 10C here in Dyffryn, almost spring like, and it was raining quite heavily this morning, but now the sun is shinning.


Ive just received an email from my friends son, who is in Sandhurst, undertaking his officer training.


Last Tuesday, three groups of officers in training were taken to the Brecon Beacons to undertake their 70K march, and it was the first time in the history of Sandhurst training, that the training course had to be called off.


They only managed roughly 30k of the march, before the conditions were deemed too severe, and the whole exercise was called off, for that to happen, conditions must have been pretty wild. :D


I am quite surprised they even considered venturing out in such hostile weather, but apart from the extreme cold, he said the sun was out, and conditions could have been far worse, but everyone managed roughly 18miles of the training march.


Oh i wish i was young was again.
Title: Re: Is snow preventing anyone else from getting out?
Post by: BuzyG on 17:10:28, 04/03/18
Blimey what a change in the weather, its now 10C here in Dyffryn, almost spring like, and it was raining quite heavily this morning, but now the sun is shinning.


Ive just received an email from my friends son, who is in Sandhurst, undertaking his officer training.


Last Tuesday, three groups of officers in training were taken to the Brecon Beacons to undertake their 70K march, and it was the first time in the history of Sandhurst training, that the training course had to be called off.


They only managed roughly 30k of the march, before the conditions were deemed too severe, and the whole exercise was called off, for that to happen, conditions must have been pretty wild. :D


I am quite surprised they even considered venturing out in such hostile weather, but apart from the extreme cold, he said the sun was out, and conditions could have been far worse, but everyone managed roughly 18miles of the training march.


Oh i wish i was young was again.


It's a case of better safe than risk a law suit, for killing an inexperienced trainee these days.  As it should be if I'm honest.  I do think some of them are missing out on important life lessons though. 

I planned my route on Dartmoor on Thursday, to avoid the Army ranges, as there were exercises planned.  I noted when I was up there than none of the range flags were flying, so looks like they also cancelled the exercises on Dartmoor last week.   Would not have happened years back.  But they might have then had, what was then called, a tragic accident.