The first snowflakes of the winter?

whitevanwoman

Guest
Last week I was wilding about 10 miles from Penrith, near Skiddaw, and woke up one morning to the first snow of the year for me, a light dusting on the very tops of a couple of fells - it was a glorious cold but clear and sunny winter day, and it was a lovely view from the van to wake up to.

Tonight I'm wilding out high up on the fells and earlier this evening there was a short snow shower and more forecast for later overnight. It was only a short snow shower and I can't tell if there's any settled on the ground but the windscreen is thick with frost.

Is this the first snow of the year for England? (sorry Scotland but you've probably already had snow so you're disqualified from this one)

And am I absolutely bonkers to be out on the fells, 2000 feet above sea level, in sub zero temps on a clear, cold, crispy night with occasional snow showers, in a van with no heating other than my gas stove and a bio-ethanol heater (thanks Flyboy, I owe you a beer for the idea), and, incredibly, enjoying it?
 
Making me jealous, our hobby is not just about going South for the warmth it is about moments like this, no picture can do it justice so enjoy the moment
 
Spent the week end at Loch Earn. Saturday evening was great. Nearly full moon reflecting on the loch. Higher surrounding hills with pockets of snow highlighted by the bright moon. Not a breath of wind. Crisp cold night made even better with a nice bottle of cheeky red. Very little traffic but could hear little beasties rustling about in the fallen leaves. Wish there had been snow overnight so I could see tracks of what was moving about.
 
Must be great to be up in them there hills, used to come up to the lakes mainly around Keswick as much as possible a few years back last time was in winter a few years ago was staying in an apartment that time though, but minus 15 outside most of the time , roads were a bit dodgy the A66 was closed so were all the passes, still managed a ride upto Hallin Fell down near Ullswater, believe there is a pub in Pooley Bridge that accepts vans overnight The Sun Inn. just stocked up with some bio ethanol ready for the weekend in Caister with a few WC members.
 
Last edited:
whitevanwoman said:
am I absolutely bonkers to be out on the fells, 2000 feet above sea level, in sub zero temps on a clear, cold, crispy night with occasional snow showers, in a van with no heating other than my gas stove and a bio-ethanol heater (thanks Flyboy, I owe you a beer for the idea), and, incredibly, enjoying it?
Click to expand...

No! It sounds great, very envious of you :wave:

:have fun:
 
Nope go for it, I am off to the French Pyrnees for a couple of months in January. 2 metres of snow fell in 36 hours when I arrived last January but when the sun was out it was shorts and T shirts. Snow shoes easy to go, ice axe and crampons for the tops!
 
whitevanwoman said:
Last week I was wilding about 10 miles from Penrith, near Skiddaw, and woke up one morning to the first snow of the year for me, a light dusting on the very tops of a couple of fells - it was a glorious cold but clear and sunny winter day, and it was a lovely view from the van to wake up to.

Tonight I'm wilding out high up on the fells and earlier this evening there was a short snow shower and more forecast for later overnight. It was only a short snow shower and I can't tell if there's any settled on the ground but the windscreen is thick with frost.

Is this the first snow of the year for England? (sorry Scotland but you've probably already had snow so you're disqualified from this one)

And am I absolutely bonkers to be out on the fells, 2000 feet above sea level, in sub zero temps on a clear, cold, crispy night with occasional snow showers, in a van with no heating other than my gas stove and a bio-ethanol heater (thanks Flyboy, I owe you a beer for the idea), and, incredibly, enjoying it?
Click to expand...
tell you something girl, you've got some balls good on ya 👍
 
Sounds great Jess.......

Its been nice this year following everyone's description of the seasons. It didn't seem that long ago we had the blistering summer waking up each morning to glorious sunshine. Some people have a preference with the season, but you sound like you enjoy them all.
 
we have snow this morning down in south wales ,but as for you being mad out in the fells i would swop you what i am doing now for what i am doing .i would love to be back living in a van instead of cooped up in bricks and mortar unable to move about at will .mind you we rent houses and have just decided to move from where we used to live up into the valleys in south wales .intend to stay here a while and who knows another move somewhere else. not as good as moving in a van a little more hassle.
 
The way you've described it, Jess how can anyone not want it? I think it's great you spend time like that in your van. I don't do it by myself. If I lived close by I'd join you tho maybe you'd rather be just you and the dogs. Enjoy :banana:
 
Snow

Mornin
A bit of snow here this morning but we are further north than SW Scotland. Good fun on the trail bike.
Tompa.
 
What's with all the threads about f'n SNOW then? At least 2 others.
Yes, it's the appropriate time of the year - get over it!!!
Still, it's jolly pretty isn't it.

Have only had a very brief sprinkling of snow on a clear sunny day.
 
Anybody's camper like this little fella yet? image.jpg
 
Yes, you're mad Jess...so you're in the right place! You're making me envious...sounds brilliant!

Hope you got out OK this morning...if your Transit is anything like mine it'll slip on a wet leaf! (I just bought some tracking for emergencies!)

Enjoy your snow! There was hardly any here :(

Hilary
 
No snow here but I have just washed the van as well as both our cars and the water was freezing on the car roof, we have had a clear blue sky all day
 
Ha ha, I'm still alive, it'll take more than a bit of snow to kill me off. I just got home, had to come back as I was running out of coffee and despite best intentions to do some work online, I wasn't getting anything done, and ended up taking the dogs out for a couple of hours walk on the fells, exploring the original route of the A6 over Shap Fell.

What a stunning day! We had a lovely walk although even now, 2 hours later, my nose and ears are still tingling. The solar panel in the bothy was reading 13.2 so all batteries recharged. It took nearly an hour to melt the frozen condensation on the inside of my windscreen :scared:

There was a sprinkling of snow on the windscreen which didn't melt until mid afternoon as the van was facing north so I didn't dream that it was snowing last night, it really did snow, but just a little.

It was 4C in the van when I woke up this morning, and probably about minus 4C outside, so my sheep fleece / camping mat / bubble wrap / silver bubble wrap insulation and warm curtains are obviously working. With the bio-ethanol chimenea stove and 2 gas stoves going, I got it up to a balmy 16C within the hour :D

Now I just got to wait 4 hours for the woodburner at home to heat my water for a hot bath :mad2:

I'm away again for another few days later this week - home just long enough for a bath, to do some washing, restock coffee and other essentials, empty loo etc. I also need to write an account of The Second Year with the Big White Van, as it was the 2 year anniversary last week, the same day as the MOT, so it was great to celebrate the anniversary with the important piece of paper. From rough calculations, I've spent more than 1/3 of the year in the van, but need to reckon up the exact figures.

It was good to meet Onion on Sunday who had come to the Full Moon Club at Shap Fell Bothy, and he was good enough to cook me up a proper fry up in his van the next day - I had a hangover from hell so it was just what i needed for a energy/calorie replen. He has the whole week off so I sent him down to check out the Station Inn at Ribblehead and got a message from him last night saying that it was a great place, he'd been drinking guinness and was ****faced (exact quote). Has anyone heard from him in the past 24 hours?
 
can"t think of a better way to spend a night than snug and warm inside a camper.:wave:
 
Sounds wonderful. What is a bio-ethanol chimenea stove?

We're away for New Year and looking for an alternative heat source.
 
whitevanwoman said:
Ha ha, I'm still alive, it'll take more than a bit of snow to kill me off. I just got home, had to come back as I was running out of coffee and despite best intentions to do some work online, I wasn't getting anything done, and ended up taking the dogs out for a couple of hours walk on the fells, exploring the original route of the A6 over Shap Fell.

What a stunning day! We had a lovely walk although even now, 2 hours later, my nose and ears are still tingling. The solar panel in the bothy was reading 13.2 so all batteries recharged. It took nearly an hour to melt the frozen condensation on the inside of my windscreen :scared:

There was a sprinkling of snow on the windscreen which didn't melt until mid afternoon as the van was facing north so I didn't dream that it was snowing last night, it really did snow, but just a little.

It was 4C in the van when I woke up this morning, and probably about minus 4C outside, so my sheep fleece / camping mat / bubble wrap / silver bubble wrap insulation and warm curtains are obviously working. With the bio-ethanol chimenea stove and 2 gas stoves going, I got it up to a balmy 16C within the hour :D

Now I just got to wait 4 hours for the woodburner at home to heat my water for a hot bath :mad2:

I'm away again for another few days later this week - home just long enough for a bath, to do some washing, restock coffee and other essentials, empty loo etc. I also need to write an account of The Second Year with the Big White Van, as it was the 2 year anniversary last week, the same day as the MOT, so it was great to celebrate the anniversary with the important piece of paper. From rough calculations, I've spent more than 1/3 of the year in the van, but need to reckon up the exact figures.

It was good to meet Onion on Sunday who had come to the Full Moon Club at Shap Fell Bothy, and he was good enough to cook me up a proper fry up in his van the next day - I had a hangover from hell so it was just what i needed for a energy/calorie replen. He has the whole week off so I sent him down to check out the Station Inn at Ribblehead and got a message from him last night saying that it was a great place, he'd been drinking guinness and was ****faced (exact quote). Has anyone heard from him in the past 24 hours?
Click to expand...
I'm here jess back home just got in about 18:00, had a lovely few days but got work to do in the house, full moon club was brilliant I liked the bit where I had to lock the place up hahaha, had a walk round ribblehead this morning & stopped at a few places on the way home, so all&all a good time had:drive:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top