Today’s guest picture shows the Royal Yacht Britannia. It is parked in Leith as a visitor attraction and lies just outside the window of the soft play area attended by Matilda and her father.
We woke to what is traditionally described as a winter wonderland today. In fact it wasn’t particularly wonderful as the snow was rather wet and slushy and it had all the makings of an inconvenience rather than a photographer’s delight.
Still, it did bring more than the usual amount of traffic to the feeder…
…including several siskins.
The heavy traffic led to some road rage incidents.
Sometimes the rude shouting…..
…provoked a rude response.
A little more light would have helped but the morning stayed rather grey and I had to wait until after lunch to take these action shots.
There were some peaceful moments…
…where the snowy background helped me out.
There had been occasional snow showers in the morning but I got fed up and went out for a walk in the afternoon, hoping not to get too wet. In the event, it turned out that I had chosen a good time and the clouds lifted off the hills soon after I started and the higher that I climbed up Meikleholm Hill, the bluer the sky became.
On my way up to the open hill, I passed a rather resigned looking horse…
…but it wasn’t long before I could take a bare tree against a much more cheerful background.
The snow on the hill was more substantial than the snow in the town, the extra few hundred feet of altitude being enough to lower the temperature that necessary fraction…
…and I had the childish pleasure of feeling like an explorer as mine were the only footprints on the virgin snow as I climbed up the hill.
The wind was very nippy and I was really pleased when I finally found myself walking in sunshine. The views were good too.
I got to the top of Meikleholm Hill and decided against pushing my luck and going on up Timpen. I stopped at the gate and looked at the clouds behind the hill. They looked restless…..
…so I enjoyed the fence that marked the route up to the summit…
…but left it to itself and turned back down the hill.
It was pure happiness to be out on such a day in such a place.
Across the valley, Whita and the monument stood out against the grey sky behind.
I had another look up the Esk valley to my left where the light was quite different…
…and then looked back over the town. The light really was very blue in that direction.
You can see that every hill seemed to have a cloud behind it so it was obvious that it was one of those rare days when I was in absolutely in the right place at the right time.
I came off the hill through a gate, which I naturally stopped to record…
…and was soon out of the thick snow. Looking back up the track to the hill, it was hard to believe that I had just come out of an all white landscape.
Hoping to round off a good walk with a riverside bird or two, I walked down through the Galaside wood and came home over the sawmill brig, along the Kilngreen….
…complete with duck…
…and then walked beside the Esk in the hope of seeing a dipper. I spotted a dark shape on a rock ahead of me….
…and scooted along in the hope of getting on its sunny side before it flew off.
My arrival home and the covering of the sun by the clouds coincided so I was more than pleased to have found such a good moment for a stroll.
Nevertheless, the three miles covered, much of it in quite strenuous underfoot conditions, made me equally pleased to be able to take the weight off my feet and enjoy a cup of tea and a jam butty.
I should have gone to Carlisle with Susan to play recorders in the evening but by mutual consent we decided that driving around on a snowy day in freezing temperatures and in the dark was probably not the most attractive proposition even with a tootle on offer and we cried off.
The forecast is for freezing temperatures and good sunshine tomorrow so be warned, there may be more snowy scenes to come.
Meantime, there is not leaf of the day but there is a flying chaffinch just catching a gust of wind.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Well, you surpassed yourself today with a plethora of birds behaving badly and an equal number of delightful snow scenes.
Five bar gates and in particular, dry-stone walls remind me of my grandfather. He could repair the latter with whatever was available, in the shortest of times. A skill required by shepherds like him. Repairs were exquisite both in appearance and utility and controlled sheep in his care.
The skills of the old shepherds were incomparable.
I certainly missed a good walk, some stunning shots especially Hunters Gate.
I missed your company.
Wonderful blog! I hope the weather remains picturesque rather than inconvenient.
Things are going well.
We’re in the midst of a good old fashioned January thaw with temps in the 50s, so it looks like you might have more snow than we do right now, at least in the hills.
Breaking a trail through fresh fallen snow can be exhausting work, especially on a hillside.
The view of the mountain and river just before the shot of the duck is really beautiful.
Fortunately I know my limits and kept the hard part of the walk to a manageable length.
What luck having such a bright and dry spell this afternoon! The horse did look most unhappy! I love the photo of the gate with the restless clouds behind.
It was not just lucky to have the bright spell but even more lucky that I managed to be out in it. I wish all my walks were timed so well.
Very scenic! We just had rain here 😦
I have no doubt that you enjoyed that a lot. 🙂
Sorry about the snow, Tom. Your miserable weather is apparently the result of a polar air mass that originated in northern Canada. I hope we don’t also send you the -45 windchill factor we had for most of today – temps. somewhere in the minus 30s and crazy winds gusting to 87 km per hour closed several highways and many, many school divisions. Very sad children, I expect.
I met a child while I was on my walk who was recovering from illness but well enough to enjoy being out. He was surprisingly cheerful at not being in school.
Seems like you got our intended snow! I like the gate shot very much! 🙂
The forecasters were bang on.
Beautiful snow images, especially the gate.
I like a good gate.
I loved all of the snowy landscape photos, especially the one with the gate and stone wall, and the one with the fence, great compositions! Loved the birds as well, and the way that you capture their behavior.
They are not camera shy at all.
I woke to only a light covering of snow. I can’t make up my mind whether to be sad of grateful.
Tricky. As the snow is due to last for no more than three days here, I was very happy to have a photo opportunity.
The snow had disappeared by the time I arrived in the marsh.
🙂
Splendid pictures. Happiness is – blue skies and snowy hills.
Loved the photos of Meikleholm (or mucklum) hill and Timpen. Brought back a lot of memories of time spent up there as a boy.
I am happy to have jogged the memory.
What a lovely post with wonderful photos of blue skies, snow, gates, country lanes and birds galore. Thank you.
As I said, it was undiluted pleasure to be on the hill.
Great pictures Tom. Missing the vistas that the hills around Langholm provide. Regards to all at the Archive lunch tomorrow: sorry I can’t be there.
I will pass on your greetings. I am sorry that you can’t be there as well.
What a wonderful walk! What lovely photos!
I agree on the first and blush modestly at the second.
we had a little snow this morning but it soon went. remained cold all day though.
Ours lasted even though quite a lot had melted away.
You got a good covering of snow there, and plenty of feeder activity. “Road rage” is very descriptive of some of your visitors! Very beautiful scenes, and I am always partial to deciduous trees in winter against the sky, like “black lace” as songwriter and poet Ian Tyson sang in “Farewell to the North”.
A nice simile.