Peter and his mother
visit family who live on the edge of Dartmoor two or three times each
year. Sometimes they go at Easter, sometimes at Whitsuntide and often
in the summer holidays too, but they go every year for Christmas.
Peter and his mother, Gail, travel from their home in Cambridgeshire
the night before Christmas Eve and the very next day there's blizzard
conditions sweeping the entire south of Britain. Xmas travel is
disrupted and for the adults it's a huge inconvenience, but for the
kids it's very exciting because they can have snowball fights, go
sledging and build snowmen... but typically for British snow, it soon
melts and the roads are declared passable for their return journey to
Cambridgeshire on the day after Boxing Day. There are however more
snowstorms forecast overnight so they set off in good time in order
to reach Cambridgeshire before sundown.
The Christmas number
one single Don't You Want Me blasts through the car's crackly
little radio as the leave Dartmoor behind. The car is packed with
their cases and Christmas gifts and both Peter and his mother are
looking forward to returning home after four nights away.
Unfortunately the blizzards come much earlier than forecast and with train travel disrupted, they end up stuck for almost and hour in a jam on the eastbound M5 motorway. Once through that it was plain sailing through Somerset but as the snow begins to fall once more, reports of heavy blizzards over the Wessex downs come over the radio. The M4 motorway is closed and many trunk roads are at a standstill and in a bid to keep moving in a generally east and northerly direction, they find themselves driving some very remote roads for what seemed like hours. Gail, Peter's mother, is worried but remains optimistic. Peter is excited by the giant snowflakes that fall quickly all around. The snow seems to ease off and following the little compass on the dashboard, Gail manages to navigate the narrow lanes in a generally homeward direction, although she has absolutely no idea where they are. At a cross roads is an old wooden pointer sign which states that Banbury is fifteen miles away and Gail is confident that they're heading in the right general direction.
But the snow is thickening and soon it's worse than before. Peter begins to get worried as darkness begins to fall. It's definitely a blizzard now and it's difficult to tell where the road meets the verge. His mother drives at a snail's pace, concentrating intently. “If we stop now we might not get started again.” she feared. Peter kept quiet so his mother could focus on the hazardous conditions, but inevitably they get stuck in a snow drift. “Oh blast... now what are we going to do?” she growled.
“There's a house up there on the hill.” Peter noticed. “But it's miles away.” he said, peering at the distant light. His mother thinks it's no more than a few hundred yards but trudging through the deep snow in the fading daylight is hard going and after ten or fifteen minutes, they eventually approach the remote cottage perched high on the hillside.
“I hope someone’s in and they've not just left a light on.” Peter said as they trudged up the lane.
“Me too.” his mother replied, her concern is evident in her shaky tone. “Otherwise we'll be stuck in the car overnight.”
“If we can even find our way back to it.” Peter said, looking back and seeing nothing but a white-out.
