Friday, December 31, 2010

Christmas Day 2010

Having had a few grey days in Bicester, Christmas Day dawned bright & sunny. Andy broke off some of the larger icicles as we were worried in the sun they could fall on one of the dogs. However Crag thought they were just great big ice cubes to be eaten
But soon it was time to come in & open the presents
Lots of new toys to play with
We then headed over to the local park to give the dogs a run
Playing with the new frisbee rings
A short clip chasing around
Anne & Ian
The snow clung onto the greenhouse - just
Christmas Dinner
Andy preparing the dogs dinner too
Turkey, roasties, veg & a little dog food (don't forget the gravy)
Tucking in
Pudding time for us
We had a lovely time & a massive thanks to Anne & Ian for all their efforts & cooking over the period we were there, it was quite a shock to come home & have to fend for ourselves.
On Christmas Eve we headed back over to Bure Park
Karen, Andy, Ian, Adrian & David
Karen, Andy, Ian, Anne & Adrian
Christmas Eve dinner
And some of Anne's pictures when the snow first fell in Bicester
One of the longer icicles

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Snowy Oxfordshire

Yesterday we travelled south to spend Christmas with Karen's parents in Oxfordshire. It was an interesting journey with temperatures as low as -12c in northern Britain & with the roads covered in salt & the sun very low & bright it made keeping the windscreen clean a constant challenge. Below Manchester we entered cloud & once at Birmingham we could start to see just how much more snow the southern part of the country has had. This is the view this morning in the back garden where it is just starting to snow again It is just above zero here so these icicles are slowly melting At the front the roads are packed with snow And you can see from our car that more has fallen since we arrived
Karen's brother Adrian & partner David are back over here from Canada for a few weeks. We went for a walk today at Bure Park
As you can see it is a winter wonderland here
A proper whiteout
The dogs as always loving it
Andy & Adrian at one of the bridges over the River Bure
Walking along one of the many tracks here
The river (stream) again
And clinging to the trees

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Ennerdale

On Tuesday we were on a work party at Ennerdale, well Andy was. On Saturday with the thaw we had tried to drive over to Bowness Knott to look at the wildlife cameras but it was still very slushy & icy on the approach roads so we turned back. Todays work party was based near Bleach Green so Andy participated & Karen set off on the 1.5hr over to the cameras. The thaw has left a mottling of snow on Pillar Looking down the valley, Crag Fell Here at Irish Bridge the track is still very icy And further along the road
The lake is frozen here too
The cloud lifts off Pillar, Scoat Fell & Steeple
Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures from the cameras this time, however Andy's work party was able to create a path through some of the forest & create 4glades where local school children can have outdoor lessons (when it warms up I guess)