Simon Graham – Staveley walk, 15th October 2022

Heavy rain early in the morning wasn’t a good omen for the day, but it had eased off then stopped before we got on the coach. After the usual stop at Truckhaven we got back on the M6 to turn off at Junction 36, heading for Windermere. We were dropped off in the middle of Staveley to begin the walk in reasonable weather. The weirs that we passed (see bottom of the page) were evidence of the amount of rain that they’d had since last week. After a short shower from a nearby raincloud we were treated to our first rainbow of the day, before starting the climb up Elph Howe Lane. Then it was down to cross the stream and up the other side to reach Hall Lane.
After another short shower, we were treated to a double rainbow as we made our way to our lunch spot with lovely views across the valley. After lunch we made our way down to a small waterfall (see bottom of page) in drizzling rain, passing a building with small pot figures of Laurel and Hardy in a niche. About 25 minutes later it began to rain, and then it really rained, along with hail, as we made our way down towards the road. At this point the walk leader made the decision to abandon walking back along the river in favour of staying on the road, so we made our undulating way back to Staveley. Shortly afterwards the heavens opened, accompanied by thunder and lightning and more hail.
An interesting 6 mile walk led by Chris B, with sunshine/showers/rainbows/rain/hail/thunder/lightning, and lots of fungus evident.