The first snow of 2012.
It started on Saturday night (top left) and, by Sunday morning, it had become quite deep. (photos can be enlarged by 'clicking' on them).
The first snow of 2012. It started on Saturday night (top left) and, by Sunday morning, it had become quite deep. (photos can be enlarged by 'clicking' on them).
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Earlier this year, I posted a few photographs taken during a visit my sister and I made to north Wales in order to visit our aunt in a residential care home. At the time, I wasn't sure into which category that particular blog should have been placed. It would, for example, not have been out of place as a trip down "Memory Lane". However, I decided that "Trixie" (see right) was more suitable because I had ridden there on my trike. On this occasion, however, I thought "Rambling" would be appropriate. Over the past couple of days - alone and driving my car as a mark of respect to the weather - I've repeated the journey to deliver Christmas presents to my aunt and others who have been helpful to her - and, in so doing, followed a procedure with which I've become extremely familiar. This usually involves a hasty drive north using the motorway system, an overnight stay at a convenient hostelry, followed - after visiting my aunt and the aforementioned 'helpful others' - by a more leisurely journey back south. The route I usually take (certainly whilst still in north Wales) avoids major roads and, in some cases, involves single-track roads and steep ravines which can be dangerous and quite frightening during inclement weather. Indeed, when I paid a flying to my aunt, a month ago, I encountered the worst fog/hill mist I've ever driven through in over fifty years of driving in the region. So, yesterday, fearful of a repeat performance, I took a route which I had never taken before - and in so doing visited somewhere I had been intending to have a look at for several years (bearing in mind I come from Liverpool) a major source of the city's water supply - Lake Vyrnwy. Interestingly, yesterday was the shortest day of the year and I only just managed to take some photographs before it became too dark. Even then, I've had to resort to taking advantage of some of the gizmos available on iPhoto. Smaller photos can be enlarged by 'clicking' on them.......... The first two photos (above) show a couple of the numerous waterfalls which supply the water to the lake (below)......... Possibly enhanced by the fading light, the darkness of the water (below) in this quiet corner of the lake looked rather forbidding...... Evidently, the tower (below) contains the main part of the extraction process from where the water is pumped over sixty miles through underground pipes to Liverpool........ Finally (below) is the dam which created the lake...... Having spent years with little option other than to stay at motorway service stations when I used to deliver buses around the country, one of the advantages of A and B roads is the variety of alternatives which are available. I visited this roadside pub/hotel just south of Shrewsbury during the earlier visit to Wales on Trixie and have stayed there a couple of times since - including last night - because it's very welcoming and very reasonable. Those familiar with my feelings about mountain bikers might appreciate this. Each spring, our Best Man and his wife try to visit us at a time when we hope to be able to enjoy the bluebells which can be seen around the area in which we live. So, this afternoon, after enjoying a nice lunch after The Royal Wedding, we set off in search of some. Sadly, most had bloomed a little earlier than usual; the ones in the first photo (below), for example, are hardly visible. However, we caught sight of a better 'crop' later on......... Bearing in mind where I live, it could be suggested that taking on the responsibility for collecting for The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) might meet with about the same level of enthusiasm as Noah may have encountered when he set about building his ark. In other words (as one neighbour pointed out), there isn't likely to be much call for the RNLI near the top of one of the highest hills in the south-east of England. As it happens, however, I have been doing the 'job' for the past two or three years and, apart from the aforementioned neighbour, almost everyone has been very generous; so, this morning, as it was such a nice day, I decided to walk down to 'our' village (rather than drive) to return my collection box to the local administrator. On the way, I passed an impressive display of daffodils....... On the way back from the village, although I didn't actually see the incident (it was behind me), I heard a car skidding to a rapid halt and I looked back to see that it had done so in order to avoid running into a mountain-biker who had failed to stop before emerging from - surprise. surprise - a clearly sign-posted footpath. The local badgers are getting quite cheeky. FIVE arrived soon after I put out their evening snack tonight. Following yesterday's bright sunshine, I was prompted to dig out my walking boots and although today wasn't quite as sunny, it was ideal for my first walk for several months - and, since my younger son was driving to a neighbouring town, I asked him to drop me off at a section of 'my' hill which I hadn't visited before. Later, as I walked through the car-park at the entrance which leads up to the bridle-path I caught sight of a couple of notices for the attention of mountain bikers. n.b. 'Clicking' on any photo will enlarged it. It's no secret that I've little time for mountain bikers - but I have to say that even I was surprised that, within a hundred yards of the notice asking them to refrain from "creating new trails or modify existing ones", there was evidence of them doing just that. Although neither is as revealing as I had hoped, these photos (below) are of an unauthorised trail created by mountain bikers. The enlarged section on the right reveals clear evidence of tyre tracks in the mud. A little further on, I saw a couple of bikers who seemed to be preparing to lift their bikes over a wooden barrier (see previous blogs) which separated the bridle-path from a clearly defined footpath - i.e. not a cycle track. However, when they saw me looking - glaring, actually - at them, they seemed momentarily flustered and started to examine what looked like an Ordinance Survey map. Moments later, looking back, somewhat furtively, towards me, they cycled off along the bridle-path. On a more positive note, is the extensive tree-clearing operation which is being undertaken (below). There was also significant evidence of new trees being planted; however, for some reason or another, that photo didn't come out very well. Perhaps because it was my first walk for a long time, I decided to keep away from the more remote tracks and - especially during a brief spell of bright sunshine - I was struck by how similar (apart from the palm trees) bridle-paths (below left) are to the primitive roads I encountered on Christmas Island (below right) a little more than half-a-century ago...... Moving forward - and to today's walk, in particular - I was presented with two nice 'photo-opportunities'. On the left (below) a nice pond - access to which has been enhanced by the recent tree-clearance - and, on the right, a pleasant place to rest a while. The bench had been erected in memory of a lady who had been especially fond of the area. What a nice way to be remembered. Rambling - but not mine. Night-vision CCTV evidence of badgers feeding outside our back door during their nightly stroll around our locality.......... As winter (hopefully) draws to a close, I didn't have to walk any further than the drive down to our home to find evidence that spring has arrived....... From time to time (especially during the recent snowfalls) I've described how we've been trying to make sure that the local bird and badger population are being fed. What I hadn't mentioned, however, is that birds and badgers aren't the only animals who visit us. In particular, we frequently see deer around and about the house - as demonstrated by these photos (below) which I took from our lounge window. The middle one was taken during last summer. Aggravatingly (sod's law) I haven't been able to take a photograph of one during the recent snowfall. However, photographs of footprints (hoofprints?) provide evidence that they continue to visit; as can be seen in the other two photos - which can be enlarged by 'clicking' on them. |
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