The morning after

112mph at Great Dun Fell, that was the windspeed recorded at 9pm last night. GDF is about 18 miles from our house and last night's measurement came as no surprise to us. Our house sits in a wood but also at just shy of 1000ft above sea level, so whilst the trees offer some protection from the elements there does come a point where they become more of a worry than a comfort.
We braced ourselves for the worst. We live in an 'upside down' house and Cats glass roofed studio is on the first floor - all that glass next to all those slates. We put out the gas lanterns and kept torches near, but we still had power when we took to our beds. It was a night of broken sleep - listening to the winds howl, the buildings groan and the trees shake, but eventually we fell to a fitfull slumber.
We awoke this morning to blue skies and intermittent hail, but the winds had dropped. Letting Pushka out I took a quick stroll round the garden - everything seemed surprisingly in order.
As we set out to walk the pooch there was plenty of small debris on the lanes, but at this time of the year there usually is. The only sign of real damage was this mighty felled fellow, split asunder. The local farmers had obviously started early to remove his remains from the road, so we stopped, took todays Blip and wandered on, thankful that for once the storms seem to have mainly passed us by.