Around the Cheshire footpaths and woods and over the fields - utterly
deserted on Christmas morning, but alive with rabbits and squirrels,
buzzards, jays, woodpeckers, [censored] and goldcrests, plus a few
bullfinches. The Meindl boots, I've concluded, come into their own on
these rough and often muddy paths in winter, with a decent grip and
keeping the feet toasty warm and dry. I've stopped using them on the
high rocky fells, where they are just too slippy on the rock for my
liking.
I could see the Clwydians covered in snow, but the Peak in the other
direction seemed to have missed it. Looking north, I could see the
weather approaching me, gradually blotting out the view. A couple of
hours into the walk it was with me, and I spent the last 15 minutes
with my head bent towards the ground as the white stuff came in
horizontally.
Then the car materialised through the white, and after brewing up and
running the engine till the heater was blasting out at full strength I
sat for 15 minutes with my breakfast - coffee and mince pies -
watching the landscape get a complete covering. Good stuff!
This afternoon when I returned, people had been sledging - though
sadly others had gone off the road in their cars at a few spots en
route, and were getting hauled out by breakdown trucks.
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