Affronted

While I was breakfasting the sky went incredibly dark and the heavens opened. The wind howled around the house accompanied by torrential rain and as I had decided to take the dogs straight out for a long walk I had no other option but to don all my waterproof gear when I went to collect them from the kennels . By the time I had put all the clobber on and driven off, the temperature had plummeted to 3' and the rain had ceased. They were both delighted to see me and had been very good during my absence so off we went for our walk in the hills.

It was still incredibly cold and very windy when I let them loose from the car and we had a great start to the walk, especially as I noticed that the dark sky had left behind a fair smattering of snow on all the hills above probably 1,000'. I did take some photos but the snow capped hills merged far too easily into the grey sky with so little differentiation between them that the resulting photo was a non-event. Then halfway into the walk I noticed that the sky was darkening again ahead of me and so I turned my back to the oncoming wind, put up my hood, battened down the hatches of my coat and donned my waterproof gloves ready to face the onslaught. The wind gathered pace and I found myself walking into the teeth of the storm with my head right down and the sleet bouncing off me. As I eventually approached the car the storm was easing and I was able to look up to see what it had left behind. Another mantle of snow lay on the hills, but what really caught my eye was the sight of the receding front against the emerging blue sky.

Those of you who do not have dogs will probably be thinking - I'm glad I don't have a dog to walk! - but believe me it was incredibly invigorating. At least that is what I thought when I had returned to the relative calm of the car, though I admit maybe it was not what I had been thinking whilst in the teeth of it!