Sun & Snow in the Yorkshire Dales, April 2012!

We’ve had a funny start to Spring 2012, here in the Yorkshire Dales.

As I sit and type this, here in Harmby, I am being warmed by the sun beaming through my window, something which I got a little used to during last week’s red hot end of March weather.

On Tuesday, however, that hot spell came to a sudden end, as April showers took on a decidedly “wintry” look. Tuesday also happened to be the day we went out Flyering in Wensleydale, so it was with numb fingers that we completed our task in Hawes (having taken to the car during a particularly icy blizzard).

We eventually got up to Hawes and managed to hand a few Silicon Dales flyers round, and also to drop a few through letter boxes at some of the businesses there.

We ended in front of the fire in one of our favourite pubs in Wensleydale, The Green Dragon at Hardraw. Unfortunately, the snow continued to fall as we thawed ourselves. In fact, when we came to leave, a good couple of inches had settled on the road out of the village, making for a treacherous journey back down dale – a journey we decided not to take until the morning, having taken advantage of D. Mark Thompson‘s renowned hospitality, “you can’t drive on that, have a room!” he said.

We were forced to agree with the sentiment in the morning, too, when our unfit-for-winter car struggled to get out of its unploughed parking place, and was not particularly good in the slushy patches that the big yellow machine’s blade had missed.

Today’s view of Pen Hill now has the added aesthetic pleasure of a (fast disappearing) white cap – it may be this is the last snow of this winter. Below is a photo of the view from our office window.

Luckily, though, we didn’t cast our clouts last week: may is not, yet, out.