Twixtmas

Between Christmas and New Year.  Twixtmas.  Well, that’s supposed to be the new vernacular.  Not sure.  It sounds more like a chocolate derivative.  But who am I to judge.  After all it’s given me a blog post title.

Two weeks work free and I haven’t managed to get up a mountain.  Between the weather and other commitments the hills have eluded me.  Not to say I have not managed to get out, it’s just been low and local, with my camera around my neck as usual.

On Christmas Eve storm clouds worried everyone.  There was no room for any more water

But interspersed sunshine dramatised the landscape on Farleton Knot

Arnside and the estuary reminded me of its dangerous side.  Serene and empty,

until the tidal bore moved in,

rapidly filling the bay.

Not our favourite creature here in Cumbria with its ousting of our native red.  I couldn’t help smiling at the grey squirrels scurrying around the trees in the rare day of sunshine.

Swans are the hall mark of Holme village where I live.

Catch them in the sunshine and they make enchanting subjects.

Sadly the village has had to cope with more than canal water in this strange December weather.

2015 ended with a walk round Potter Fell and Staveley.  Once more the clouds brought unwelcome rain.

Destruction of roads grabbed the headlines following the floods on 4th December.  Footbridges didn’t stand a chance against the deluge.

New Years day was the first time I’d been up to the Lakes and seen it all first hand.

Finally, just before the return to work day for many I took some friends on a damp walk from Sizergh Castle.  Through soggy woods and over a windswept Scout Scar.  Much of it on National Trust land (as are Arnside and Farleton Knott).  New to see was Park End Moss.  A wetland cleared from low grade farmland on Lords Plain near Brigsteer and Levens.  A welcome shelter from the rain, though the birds were somewhat distant from the hide today.

More details and pictures of the walk route here.

Happy New Year!