Sunday 31.05.2015 (part 2)

And so, gentle reader, we did indeed go out again. Boots still a bit soggy after this morning but no waterproofs required so it felt like walking several pounds lighter.

The wind marginally less eye-watering as it had swung round to the south-west. Dry road,

white clouds elbowing the grey ones aside and the cows up and eating rather than sulking in one muddy corner of the field, stock (or should that be stoically) still with their heads down.

Woods all freshened up and sparkling



while just now the sky is quite clear save for a nearly full moon and one star and it is absolutely baltic . First day of summer tomorrow eh?

Sunday 31.05.2015

"The Darling Buds of May" eh? More like the sodden buds this morning. As forecast of course and had not anticipated fancying a walk but the wild woods called so set off in head-to-toe waterproofs. Freezing south easterly wind on the road but sheltered once in the woods and more greens than should have been possible.






And again



and water, water everywhere

So back home to a rather splendid breakfast and lots of coffee, thinking that was it for the day but as I write the sun is trying to emerge, the clouds are lifting and I`m wondering if this might even be a two walk day........

Thursday 28.05.2015

Loving this crazy weather: warm sun disappears as a sudden cold gust heralds the arrival of dark clouds chucking down bucketloads of hailstones before moving on to let the sun through again - the whole show repeating itself all day.



Dramatic skies,




beautiful light;




and a bit of Rawhide thrown in for good measure.

Sunday 24.05.2015

So a nice toddle round the Loch, a very brief spat of rain but mostly a nippy breeze and warm sunshine when it did emerge from the constantly shifting clouds. And really the pictures speak louder than the words.......

Saturday 22.05.2015

Yesterday toddler weather: warm sunny smiles one minute, replaced at frequent and sudden intervals by grey frowning clouds that spat rain. When the sun did shine through it was pure spring.

Fewer dramas this evening, grey cloud pretty much all over and a brisk breeze on the hill but not in the woods where the atmosphere was quite heavy allowing the pungent woodland scents to hang in the air and the birdsong to echo round.

Tomorrow,then, a longer walk is planned round Loch Muick (http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/loch-muick.shtml) not with dogs but with a .........of librarians and library assistants (provide your own collective noun)though as I write the rain has started to fall quite steadily.......

Sunday 17.05.2015

Impressions of the last fortnight: plenty more walking in Spring sunshine, a persistent cold wind but beautiful light




long shadows

and the coos are oot!

The in-between weekend it was pounding the streets of Glasgow, a brilliant Katzenjammer gig at Oran Mor and 8 of us for breakfast on the Sunday morning, more or less monopolizing the small but excellent Great Western Cafe - all day breakfast for a fiver and the friendly staff couldn`t have been more accommodating. Then more street-pounding to our Oxfam training - have I mentioned Oxfam Stewarding? :) - before a damp final walk to the bus station (via the Subway of course.)

Yesterday after a flat out week working and taking walks where we could we made it up Bennachie for the first time in a while: warm in the sun but still that cool wind, for which in fact we were grateful as we clambered upwards.



Worth it as always at the top - really clear, the sea in one direction and the mountains in the other

And then this morning, more beautiful light

and a sky full of clouds, drifting and shifting (and you don`t have to be a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society to..er....appreciate them).

Monday 04.05.2015

Another day, another planet though we may have had the best of it already. Still a strong cool breeze when we set off but at least a Southerly rather than yesterday`s mind-numbing Easterly. Rain-washed sky and Persil-white clouds, we took the longer route again the sun turning the `thinking stone` spot into an inviting little glade which would make a good picnic spot.

However on this occasion we pressed on, got a bit lost in the "impenetrable forest" :) but kept walking uphill and eventually emerged into the sunshine again. Birds in full-throat celebrating the improved weather, the larks in particular making up for lost time.

But as we turned for home those brilliant white clouds were beginning to bank up and turn a little greyer, the wind was getting stronger so there`s already another change in the air.......

Sunday 03.05.2015

Rain/snow not quite arrived this morning so we went for it: grey skies and bitter Easterly wind and it was all about the sounds - the wind in the trees crashing like the sea, the wailing of gates and telephone wires as the wind whipped through and across them and a small piece of black plastic caught on barbed wire, rattling furiously as if trying to escape. All very bracing - actual brain freeze as at several points we walked directly into the wind - but the rewards are plentiful: coffee, toast and honey, fire lit, Bob Harris Sunday on i-player, good book and of course a very slight smugness......... :)
And it`s a bank holiday tomorrow....simple pleasures.

Saturday 02.05.2015

Long day at work, returning leaden-legged and weary but weather forecast so bad for tomorrow thought I`d better make the most of it this evening - and guess what - freezing wind had me awake in minutes, legs woke up and by the time we were in the woods, the sweater was off and felt I could walk for miles (couldn`t have really)but did get back feeling ten years younger.......



Clouds all round suggesting forecast is right:



and out there just now black clouds scudding across a big moon like some second-rate horror movie and the wind`s getting up. Bit of luck it could be a day by the fire with a book tomorrow. :)

Friday 01.05.2015

Happy May Day. Much colder than it looked



but good for walking so we took a longer route - found trees we used to walk between now an impenetrable forest. The "thinking stones" still there (see Post on 17.03.2010) but you couldn`t see over the trees now even if you did stand on the stones. Need a 30 foot ladder.

And though our swallows aren`t back yet, the long evenings are kicking in and tonight was a glorious mish-mash of slate greys and fluorescent greens dissected by lengthening black shadows against a backdrop of pearly pink clouds. Stunning.