Late November 2021 saw a fierce and sadly deadly storm hit the UK. Storm Arwen caused 250,000 homes to lose power and it brought wind speeds of 110mph, waves of 13m and temperatures of -9°C. Now, me being a bit blasé about the UK’s “bad weather” decided it would be a good idea to take a trip up to the Lake District for some landscape photography. A little rain wasn’t going to stop me!

Little did I know the storm would actually reach a comparable level to a category 1 hurricane. Oops.

Our first night was a late stop over on Snake Pass in the Peak District. All set up in the Defender camper with the heater going, we were cosy and ready for a good night’s sleep.

Fast forward to 2am and we were woken by quite possibly the loudest sound that has ever passed through my ears. The gale force winds had blasted over the mountain pass and ripped a limb, that was basically the size of your average tree, off a large oak nearby. It landed a mere 10 metres from the truck, super lucky. The silver lining was that it was now clear above us and we could try to sleep without fret for the rest of the night.

The morning shed light on our situation, which was a burial in fresh white snow and a vanished road.

There were a few other marooned vehicles in the car park and one group we spoke to had been hiking overnight when they got stranded on top of the mountain as the storm hit, they had no choice but to huddle down and wait for it to pass.

So I put the trusty Land Rover into action and helped tow everyone out of the car park so they could slowly make the descent back down to civilisation, you know, what the sensible people do.

FelixCo. Travel & Adventure photography, image of Land Rover Defender in snow covered forest track

So as they all turned left, I of course decided to go right, up the mountain.

We were met with snow drifts that had swallowed cars and fallen trees that required the trusty silky saw to see some action.

I must admit, overcoming the obstacles and forging on up the mountain alone, felt pretty cool. The scenery was fantastic and it felt like we were in the wilds of Canada, not little old England.

FelixCo. Travel & Adventure photography, image of trees covered in snow

FelixCo. Travel & Adventure photography, image of reduce speed road sign covered in snow, taken on Snake Pass

As we climbed on up, this was our view of the treacherous mountain pass. But what a sight! I have the excellent BF Goodrich AT tyres to thank for not descending us into the valley below.

FelixCo. Travel & Adventure photography, image of snake pass mountain road covered in snow

We reached the summit of the pass and stopped for a moment to explore. It was only then that we could feel the full force of the storm and even though it had passed by that time, the wind up there was immense, causing horizontal snow and super low visibility. My Land Rover Defender was an absolute hero, didn’t skip a beat and got us over Snake Pass with no drama at all. We did however come across a poor chap that we failed to tow free from an icy ditch, in fairness he was in an 8 tonne lorry… Luckily we passed the snow plough on it’s way up just a few turns on, so I trust he was freed shortly after.

FelixCo. Travel & Adventure photography, image of Land Rover Defender on a snow covered track on Snake Pass Peak District

We reached the bottom of the pass still intact and ready to push on towards the Lake District, so a successful excursion really! The rest of the journey was smooth sailing and we reached the Lakes within a couple of hours, ready to continue my mission of achieving some fantastic Lake District landscape photography.