R & R

Today’s picture, taken by my brother Andrew in Singapore while on his way to NZ, shows some rather curious yet beautiful ‘trees’ in a park there.

Another abrupt change in the weather brought us relatively warm temperatures (7°C), a bit of sunshine and the steady disappearance of three inches of snow.  There was still too much snow lying on the road at breakfast to make cycling an attractive proposition and as I was feeling some way off my peak, I decided to retire back to bed and read a good book .  I rose in time for a late cup of coffee and a peer out of the window.

As well as the weather, the supply of birds had also changed dramatically and after yesterday’s flood of feathered friends, today there was just a trickle.

A brambling looks at an uninhabited feeder with suspicion.

A pair of bramblings catch some rays in the plum tree.

A single chaffinch in contrast to yesterday’s hordes

A blackbird looks ready to take off at a moment’s notice.

After our roast chicken to celebrate my sister’s recent visit, Mrs Tootlepedal simmered the bones to make stock and I used this to make some vegetable and lentil soup for lunch.  I had to pop out to the shop in the course of the preparation of the meal to get some ingredients and was able to admire the snowdrops on the side of the dam.

Snowdrops looking quite at home.

After lunch, I roused myself from my torpor and got the fairly speedy bike out to see what the roads were like.  They turned out to be clear of snow but there was a lot of water in its place and at times it felt more like water skiing than cycling.

The rivers were quite highn although they had gone down from the peak of the melting snow.  This is Pool Corner with a good flood going.

I stopped to admire one of the little rapids in the Wauchope, now showing quite a bit of power.

It was not surprising that the river was full as every little side stream was adding generously to the total volume.

I was rather sorry that we hadn’t been able to see the falls at Lodore on such a lively day.

There was still a brisk wind blowing and as I didn’t want to send too long battling into it I did two ten mile laps which broke the effort into nicely manageable sections.

The day was mostly sunny…

..and as I pedalled along it got sunnier.

I passed a cattle cafeteria.

And the view from my last turning point with five miles to go, mostly downhill and with a good breeze behind me was particularly attractive both from a scenic and a pedalling point of view.

I had a final stop to watch the water flowing under the bridge that is no longer there…

I was well wrapped up against the chilly breeze but there was just enough heat in the sun to give a taste of spring and summer pedalling to come.

I had suggested that Mrs Tootlepedal might like a pedal too but she is very much involved in sewing costumes for the forthcoming show and didn’t have time to spare.  If I listen carefully, I can hear the whirr of her needle at all hours of the day.

In the evening, I went to the Archive Centre with Sandy and Jean and had one of those frustrating times when the computer simply won’t behave for reasons that are not at all clear.  I did mange to put a couple of weeks of the newspaper index into the database but it was a struggle and a small glass of excellent beer in the Douglas afterwards only went some way to restoring my equanimity.

I am currently suffering from a slight flare up of my aches and pains which I think is what is making me feel tired but as I was able to cycle twenty miles, albeit at a very steady pace, without any great effort toady, things are not too bad.  Aching shoulders are making typing a bit of bore though so I apologise for a rather dull post.

To make up for that, I did find a nice flying brambling today.  The white background is a snowy lawn which is always the last to let the snow go.