After a cold overnight frost, I was out with the dogs at about 6.00am, it was a pleasant morning, the sun was trying to break through the low cloud and it looked like being a pleasant day.  I had a pleasant, quiet walk with Meg and Gracie, both of them being on good form and well behaved.

After breakfast, we had arranged to have a day out to Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal with the dogs, I had prebooked tickets, and prior to setting off we debated about what to wear for our visit, although the sun was shining early on, the weather forecast was quite unpredictable to say the least. After much debate we decided to take two jackets each one being a waterproof jacket, we also packed the dogs waterproof jacket as well as a bag of old towels just in case they got wet.

It is just short of an hour’s drive from home and although quite busy on the motorway it was an uneventful journey. The sun was shining nicely as we arrived and booked into the visitors’ centre for 10.30am. We had driven through some rain showers on route so decided to put our waterproof jackets on when we arrived and carried the dog jackets in a light rucksack.

After a pleasant chat with the lady on the reception desk we left the visitor’s centre and headed for the ruins in bright sunshine. It is a good ten-minute walk to reach the Abbey and on arrival headed straight to the cloisters.  I spent two or three minutes photographing the ancient brick work before heading out again to follow the path which runs alongside the stream towards Studley Royal. Within seconds of reaching the path the heavens opened, we quickly put the jackets on the dogs and zipped up our jackets and continued with our walk. The rain turned to hail, we continued our walk along the footpath, sadly the trees offered no protection from the hail stones which by now were the size of peas, we passed many people coming towards us with no jackets or waterproofs and were absolutely soaked through. By this time, I was getting considerable grief from my other half, so on reaching the water gardens decided to follow the path over the stream and head back to the ruins and latterly the car park. After another ten minutes the hail stopped and within a minute the sun was shining. By the time we reached the ruins of the Abbey our jackets were steaming! We continued our walk through the ruins and headed back up the steep path to the visitors’ centre.

As the sun was still shining and it was quite pleasant and warm, we decided to stop and have an early brunch at the café, although we were unable to sit inside due to the current Covid restrictions, we headed outside and sat on one of the many benches on the patio area and enjoyed a very pleasant pot of tea and hot sausage roll, Meg and Gracie enjoyed their sausage roll treat too. By the time we had finished eating our jackets and dogs were just about dry and we were sat in just our shirt sleeves, enjoying the afternoon sunshine and vistas. It was hard to believe an hour earlier we were walking in a torrential downpour, oh well, typical British weather and to be expected at this time of year.

From the café it is a short walk back to the car, and the journey home.