You may have noticed it was a tad windy at the weekend. That's a
'tad windy' as in lorries being blown over on the M6 and Keswick and
Carlisle suffering floods. So possibly not an ideal weekend for a
bunch of OMers to hold the first OUTDOORSmagic meet-up of 2005 at
Buttermere in the northern Lakes where things were at their
worst...
OM member Jeannie Conley takes up the story:
An OM Meet And A Half...
The first OM meet of 2005 was arranged at Buttermere 7-9 January.
Eight were booked into the Cragg Farm camping barn and the others
were going to camp at Sykes' Farm site, 5 minutes walk away.
It was an OM meet and a half.
We were aware of very bad weather forecasts but most of us decided
to turn up anyway. Wet and windy weather at OM meets seems to be the
norm. As we drove along the A65, the rain was horizontal and the road
was a series of large puddles. We were aquaplaning some of the time.
The A591 seemed much clearer to begin with but from Windermere
onwards it was very difficult to make progress and the road was
deeply flooded in many places. We came over the Whinlatter Pass and
as we turned onto the Buttermere Road from Lorton the rain changed.
It started to come at the car in angry spinning balls, like
something out of a science fiction movie - it was extremely surreal
and a little disconcerting. A phone call from Julie told me that
several OMers were safely at the site. This gave us the impetus to
continue our strange journey.
Disappearing Tents
Some OMers had arrived earlier on Friday and after pottering round
Keswick they drove to Buttermere to help to put up the Partay Tent
and then sheltered inside out of the wind and rain for a few warming
beverages.
Every now and again someone would stick a head outside to check
that the smaller tents were all still pitched and report on which
ones had flown away.
Steve's disappeared first, Julie's next and then Frank's.
Meanwhile the other OMers were getting the barn nice and cosy by
turning the Calor gas heater up and sorting out bed spaces.
The wind kept on getting stronger and the rain was beginning to
lash down. The campers struck camp and found alternative places to
sleep such as inside cars or toilets. Earlier the farmer's wife at
Cragg Barn had popped in and kindly said that any of our camping
friends in distress could doss down in the barn with us. Some of them
did so.
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This is a bridleway at Lorton not
far from Buttermere.
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Partay In A Barn
We had a partay in the barn instead of the Partay Tent and we had
laughs, a few drinks, some Christmas cake and mince pies, more
laughs, some hugs, and a bit of weather. Bryony was celebrating a
promotion so treated us all to real Champagne Cocktails (mine had two
cherries in) followed by mulled wine. We continued to partay on into
the night in the usual OM fashion.
The bedroom had lots of space in to fit in the extra sleepers but
no-one got much sleep due to strange noises from one source or
another. The wind rattled the windows and doors and at several times
the slates on the barn roof made an attempt for freedom but failed.
The door banged loudly at 2am but it later transpired that it was a
refugee OMer who decided to sleep on the kitchen table downstairs so
as not to wake us up. Radio Cumbria reported that it was officially a
hurricane - and the biggest blast was a terrible ball of wind at 3am
that woke us all up as we waited for the barn roof to fly off (it
didn't).
No Tents Left Standing
Everyone
survived the night and woke to found that the power and phone lines
were down in the valley. A hardy OM reconnaissance crew went to the
campsite early that morning and there were no tents left; just a few
tent pegs which had sheared clean off and a few strewn items of
underwear and socks.... there was still a green tent stuck on a tree
when they left but its ownership was unknown.
Several people decided to go back home on Saturday after a
rendezvous in Keswick for kit-fondling and purchase, plus breakfast at
the Lakeland Peddler', just leaving a few hardy souls who were going
to play on the climbing wall in Keswick and then try and make it back
to Buttermere for another night of fun.
Beef For Dinner...
Radio Cumbria reported that a man found that a live cow had blown
into his dining room through his patio doors. He'd cleaned up the
glass and tied the cow up in the garden and was wondering what to do
next as there wasn't a farm next door...
The BBC said that two black bullocks were trapped on Brampton
Road. They were swept down the river Eden and one had an ear tag on
with 400/465 on it. They were opposite the tennis courts - the caller
said that somebody must own them and please could they come and get
them as they were looking very distressed.
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Keswick flooded by serious
rainfall.
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We waited in Keswick until we knew that the M6 was re-opened and that
the fallen trees blocking the A65 had been cleared. We stopped at
Tebay services and there were three small candles to illuminate the
cafe (none in the no-windowed loos which led to an experience
reminiscent of the Tampax Compak adverts) and no power at all...
We saw nine flattened lorries on the grass/ditches near the M6 at
Shap - note 'on the grass', mind, not the hard shoulder, and there
were no signs that they'd been dragged there but rather they looked
like they'd been airlifted and dumped down.
Cumbria A Mess
The journey back through Cumbria was like nothing I have ever seen
before. It took us two attempts to leave Keswick as we were trapped
in by fallen trees or floods on underpasses. There were fallen trees
everywhere, some on top of houses. Every single road was covered in
debris - glass, stones, slates, branches.
Roofs had blown off; not slates; entire roofs. Cows caught in the
hurricane and thrown into houses through windows....a ladder stile in
Buttermere was lifted off the stone wall it had previously straddled
and deposited neatly on the opposite side of the road on the kerb as
if a giant had changed its position on a whim... radio appeals for
anyone with a boat or even an outboard motor to go and help to
evacuate the up to 10,000 people in Carlisle needing rescue; some on top
of their roofs....all human life was there, including an intrepid
bunch of OMers who had partied in style (as always) with Champagne
Cocktails.
Crisis? What crisis?
Check out the forum link below for more firsthand accounts...
Evil Darren
The weekend before Christmas and a bunch of OMers dodged the shopping crowds in favour of a mellow walk across the Peak. Dave Evans reports back...
