Saturday 30.01.2021

 At last a respectable amount of snow in the last couple of days and just back from a crunchy walk in the woods, the temperature plummeting, the air tingling, completely still and silent.  Branches weighted down by the snow so we ducked and dived through the thickest parts, trees silhouetted against the darkening sky, water droplets freezing on grasses and trees, setting into
sparkling diamonds, and fence posts with little white mob caps,  Perfect winter walking and  enough light left at half five to get us down the road and home.

Monday 26.01.21

 If Friday`s walk was the first of the year that could just about be classified as an evening walk, then today we went for what was the first early morning one.

Up round the back field with both dogs in the mirk of a cloudy start to the day, low lying mist at the bottom of every hill. Cold but not bone-cracking  and it suddenly seemed like a good idea to get up the road. Old Dog deposited back indoors in the warm, Dog 2 and I set off at a trot - insofar as the icy patches allowed for trotting.

The sun was still below the horizon but throwing warning colours at the sky as we said good morning to the sheep in their muddy but frozen hard field,

 

revelling in the illusion of being the first ones up. Into the woods, thick jacket abandoned at the entrance, we crunched across the grass, Dog 2 delighted to find errant wildlife obviously not expecting anyone to be about yet.

The birds were also enjoying being up, first time this year I`ve really heard anything resembling a dawn chorus and their largely territorial-marking calls were a delight as well as confirmation, if we needed it, that the days are lengthening.

We hit the road again, turned for home, the sun having finally made an appearance, 

and waved again at the slightly wider-awake, slightly warmer sheep.     

                                                  

Shower, coffee...more coffee,,,all set for the day ahead. 👏👏👏

Saturday 21.01.2021

 So it was back to an afternoon walk, taking the new boots for their maiden tramp.......they will never look so pristine again.....

It was bright blue and white, a clear sky and ice, very very cold with a nippy wind snapping at the ears.  The sun shone valiantly but couldn`t make much impact on the temperature

It was all very bracing,  so with new boots moving along nicely we took a slightly different route, affording slightly different views to the usual.

 

Once we turned back into the woods we rejoined the well-worn path which led us home as the sun started to go down.

Later, we yomped slowly round the top field in the gloaming, old dog and younger dog, watching the lights appear across the hills and the flashing light of a tractor making its way up the back hill. Earth hard as iron, water like a stone, we made it back down to the fire and tea.

Friday 22.01.2021

The weather was having a laugh yesterday. That thing about no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes?

Not yesterday. All day the weather sang or rather screeched:

• you`re not coming out today
• you`re not going to want to come out today
• the dogs aren`t going to want to come out today

I did go out, in the dark, in the morning, to take the dogs around the top field, in horizontal rain whipped up by a vicious wind. And the level of disappointment I felt was ridiculous.

They`d promised snow at the beginning of the week and right up to the evening before, a thick fall of snow. I had new boots! My injured foot (long story) was completely healed. After days of drizzle I`d imagined blue sky, sparkling unsullied snow and a long march round, drinking in the icy fresh air.

Huh!  I spent the rest of the day hunkered down in a big comfy chair by the fire, alternately sulking and  glaring at the window as the weather taunted me, roaring round the house and wailing mainiacally. (Though I got a lot of reading done in between the tantrums)

By the end I felt 100 years older than I am, was cross with everything, had eaten too much and went too bed early.  And all because it didn`t snow when they said it would? 

Deep breath when I woke up this morning. Head out of the door. Better. Not perfect but better. Still no snow but no rain either. Dogs and me round the top field just as the light creeps up. No rain but a strong raw wind blows bullets of sleet and hail into our eyes. However, seem to have got over the disappointment and the day improves.  

And we get what felt like the first evening  walk of the year. Early evening, but evening nevertheless. Younger dog and I don`t set off until quarter to four. The clouds have lifted, the crows are wheeling round and in the woods there`s so much bird activity that it`s as if they`re enjoying the lengthening days too.

It was cold but no wind to speak of and still no rain. We squelched round in mud and rotten leaves, skidding a little on the odd icy patch. The temperature was falling as we turned onto the road and headed down the hill: we could almost hear the puddles crackling as they iced over.

As we enjoyed the last of the light, with a bright yellow demi-moon over our heads, there really was an intimation, if not of spring exactly, at least of   longer evenings to come.

Friday 8.01.2021

 

Words superfluous today really. A cloudy early morning, a slender crescent moon hanging over our heads affording enough light across the snow for us to pick our way round. 

Then, as the sun came up and the cloud cleared, the day was transformed into picture postcard stuff.  

Later, as the sun headed downwards at the end of its currently pretty short journey around the horizon, the temperature was plummeting again, preserving the landscape in ice and freezing noses and ears. Literally breathtaking.