Outdoor Discoveries

What originally was a news section for the rest of the website soon became a place for me to write about human-powered wanderings in the countryside. Photography inspires me to get out there, mostly on foot these days, though cycling got me started. Musings on the wider context of outdoor activity complete the picture, so I hope that there is something of interest in all that you find here. Thank you for coming!

A little white surprise

31st January 2010

This morning, I got up and peered out my window not to see sunshine but falling snow instead. After that prolonged cold spell earlier in the month, I'd thought that we'd to wait a while before seeing another white covering and that was even with light snow showers being forecast. Even so, I wasn't expecting much to come of them if anything at all and that made the snowy spell that we got a even bigger surprise. In the event, it was sufficiently heavy to leave quite an accumulation on the ground. Not having subsequent falls left that white covering vulnerable to trampling into slush and roads began to hold standing water. Thoughts of what happens when slush freezes was the cause of my going clearing the pavement outside my house in the afternoon and some of what I was removing was partially frozen by the time that I got to it!

With the clearing skies and emerging sun, I was lured into taking the bike out for short run around by Prestbury. That roads that I used were clear so there was little change of I coming off in an inappropriate place. Though the late afternoon light was fading, I still got to testing what a spot of photographic activity would produce; at time of writing, I have not had a good look at the results just yet.

That cycling wasn't the only burst of outdoor activity this weekend with yesterday taking me up to Cumbria. More specifically, I ended up opting for a circular walk that took in Place Fell in Patterdale. The outing may have left me with aching legs but that's a small price to pay for the delights that were enjoyed. Beyond that, I won't say any more for now but that a full account is to follow.

All in all, January is ending on a high note and could be month that many will remember for those spells of colder weather that brought us both delights and disturbances. February looks to be getting going with an Atlantic run of weather so anyone who enjoyed this weekend might be very glad of it. Of course, wet weather never goes on forever so something more attractive should come to draw us out in the open from time to time and we are in 2010's early days yet.

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