Dripping wet

Today’s guest picture, an antidote to our miserable day here, is a view towards Keswick from Manesty taken by Lake District enthusiast Paul, a couple of years ago. It was a welcome sight on a grey day. The number of aeroplane trails in the sky is a marked contrast to present circumstances.

We had a day with few if any redeeming features here, as it rained nearly all day, and even when it wasn’t raining, the clouds were so low that it felt as if it was. As a result, it seemed like a very good day for Mrs Tootlepedal to cut my hair, so she did this after breakfast.

I then, seized on a rainless moment to cycle off to the shop and got thoroughly wet on my way back a few minutes later.

The newspapers, coffee and a crossword were followed by some flute practice and lunch.

I had a look at the birds after lunch and saw a blue tit visiting in the rain.

A green finch looked disgusted to find that it had come all this way in the wet only to find the feeder fully occupied.

I finally got fed up with skulking about indoors and went for a walk, hoping that a forecast which said it might stop raining for a while was correct.

Before I left, I took a picture of two dahlias in the garden, one newly starting out today, just to have a least one garden picture in the post.

The start of my walk was not very promising as the rain persisted. Even when I got under trees, the slightest breeze made them drop more water on me from their sodden leaves than the rain was doing.

However, optimism was rewarded and the rain eased off. Although things were definitely still very damp, a lot of the walk was quite enjoyable.

The frost damage to the beeches is still very visible, but they have been putting out new leaves and the result is an interesting patchwork of colour.

I walked along the track to the bridge over the Becks burn and saw a grazing horse…

…another chicory flower, the second in recent walks having never noticed one before….

…and a bank of rosebay willowherb looking quite cheerful in all the gloom.

I crossed the bridge (which appears in today’s header picture) over the Becks Burn and climbed up the hill to the road on the other side. There was no view to speak off when I looked back down the valley…

…so I looked down at a sea of soggy grass instead…

…which, as is so often the case, looked better when I looked at it more closely.

I walked down to the Auld Stane Brig, passing vetch….

…harebells…

…lady’s bedstraw….

…and about a million droplets.

I crossed the bridge and strolled back towards the town along Gaskell’s Walk. Things are very green at the moment, even on a grey day.

But once again, rosebay willowherb added a colorful note in many places. It may be a plague in the garden, but it is a grand sight in the wild.

I passed through the tunnel to Stubholm…

…and stopped to contemplate life in the company of some sheep in a field.

As it hadn’t started raining again, I lengthened my walk a little by going along the track on the top of the banking and coming back through the woods beside the river to the park. It had got very gloomy and I only took one more picture, a bramble flower…

…before scurrying back home as the rain started again.

Mrs Tootlepedal had been doing preparatory work for painting the second half of the sitting room ceiling during the day and she was quite ready for a cup of tea and a ginger biscuit or two when I got in.

The sibling Zoom meeting produced an interesting collection of photographs and it was judged so successful that we are going to have another photo display at our next meeting.

I made corn beef hash for tea and that rounded off a fairly dull day.

The flying bird of the day is a chaffinch, looking suitably depressed in the rain.