Winter weather

I wonder where the idea came from that seasons would be just one type of weather?  Picture books, perhaps, showing the winter as snow from one end of the season to the other, or that the summer would stretch out as days of glorious sunshine.

It doesn’t work like that, does it?  We’ve had alllll the weather over this last week – snow, hail, sun, rain, blustery winds – a whole year’s worth of seasons in one week!

I’ve taken lots of photos – are you ready? 🙂

The dog and I went to the Nine Arches for the first time this year.  It was damp and gloomy, and I had to work quite hard at first to look for something extraordinary in the everyday greyness.

But there it was – those incredible brick arches that never fail to make me feel a sense of awe.

And there, too – look!  Can you see it?

Bright green ivy clinging to the wall, a splash of colour against the brown of the dead vegetation and the grey of the sky.  It’s things like this that remind me that life is still full of colour, even in the depths of winter.  Some days you have to look harder for it, but it’s there.

That sky doesn’t look so promising, does it?  I really thought the dog and I were going to get a soaking but as we walked, the clouds moved away behind us.  By the time we got to the point where we were going to turn round to go back, the sky had cleared and you’d never know that it had been so dark.

You wouldn’t believe this was the same day, would you?  And never mind the same day – ten minutes later!

The heavy rain we’ve had over the last few weeks had raised the level of the brook, and that water looks darker because of the bright sky.  It was moving fast, too, so I needed to keep an eye on the dog!

The dog needed to keep an eye on me for this photo …

It’s at a bit of an angle as I couldn’t work out where the sound of the waterfall was coming from, but if you look at the bridge, you can see where the water is running off the fields onto the bridge and falling down into the brook.  I think the water level had been considerably higher than this but it’s still pretty deep and I needed to keep tight hold of my photo to take the photo – I didn’t want to drop it in there!

By the time we were safely off the bridge and walking back to the car, the sun was out and it was one of my favourite sorts of winter days – cold and clear with beautiful reflections in the water.

There were no blue sky reflections in the water at the other end of Sankey Valley when we walked there later in the week.  In fact, there wasn’t even a footpath!

If there’s water, he’s in it – although shaking himself whilst he’s in the water always seems a bit pointless!

This should be the footpath that goes through a wood close to Bewsey Old Hall in the Sankey Valley but thanks to all the recent rain, it’s completely flooded.  There is a way around it which involves balancing on a makeshift bridge of sticks and jumping over a dry ditch (it all feels very Famous Five!) but on the days when I wear my wellies, the only way to go is …

Straight Through!!

It’s quite deep, isn’t it?  I wouldn’t want to try walking through there in my walking boots!

Even the little individual pools that are usually along here have merged together into one long stream and you can guess who goes in there at the first opportunity (and it’s not the one with the purple wellies!).

It’s surprising how quickly the water goes down once it stops raining, though.  A few days ago, this branch across the pools was completely submerged as the water was high enough to cover it and the next time I visited, the woodland floor was crunchy underfoot with a light covering of snow.  Yes, of course I’d like it to be thicker and deeper, but I can’t deny that the woods look really lovely with just this much!

It was a lovely morning for walking; cold and crisp despite the grey sky.  Just my kind of weather!

I hope you’re finding some colour in the winter days – I’ll be back on Friday with Week 3 of the Winter Haven KAL! xx