Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019

Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019
On the Archduke's Path in Mallorca

Thursday 19 January 2012

Five Days of Winter Sunshine

Witchhazel at Dunham Massey Winter Garden - 15/1/12

The wet weather had to end sometime, and the forecast of fine weather was reliable enough to allow Rick, Stuart, JJ and me to enjoy a superb day in the Lake District on Friday.

The good weather continued until Wednesday morning, when we woke to fine drizzle from a low cloud.  I’m slightly ashamed not to have taken better advantage of the fineness, but the Parkrun on Saturday was under clear skies, and JJ joined Sue and me for a very pleasant 10km stroll to Dunham Park and on to Altrincham on Sunday.  The header image is from Dunham’s Winter Garden, and there’s a slideshow from that walk/visit here.

Monday saw me take advantage of the continuing fine, frosty conditions via a bike ride to Lymm and back, but the small camera (Canon Ixus 105) that I thought had dried out after its drowning last week decided to remain poorly, so no images of a lovely sunrise.  All was well until the sun caught the frozen mud of the towpath.  The surface couple of millimetres soon thawed sufficiently to be dragged up by each turn of the wheels.  It was like cycling through glue.  Glue that was thrown up and gradually enveloped both cycle and rider!  So whilst the conditions looked perfect for a ride, they were actually the opposite.  To cap it, our outdoor hose was frozen, so cleaning was laboriously attempted (‘achieved’ is not the correct word) using buckets of warm water to swill the mud…

Tuesday was another nice day, that somehow disappeared in a fog of forgotten activity.

And so to Wednesday, and fine drizzle from a low cloud – more of that later…

2 comments:

Mark said...

I have an image of you and the bike gradually disappearing under an accumulating layer of mud - it's quite amusing me to be honest.
I would have thought that a quick dip in the canal would have been an effective way to get all the mank off.
The winter sunshine is grand isn't it. Even going to work is a tad more bearable in the sunshine.

Phreerunner said...

It was really deceptive, Mark. For a while I wondered why I was going so slowly in what appeared to be excellent conditions. Then the insidious mud slowly revealed itself, slowly enveloping me and the bike like some alien monster.
You're quite right - a dip in the canal was needed, but I hadn't thought that the hose would be frozen. Duh! At least I didn't pick up a puncture!