Mossy icicles

This is worth viewing in large to see the moss within the icicle.

Last year I found myself having to make an unexpected detour off a motorway following an accident which had resulted in an oil spillage and subsequent road closure. It was dusk and having to find my way in completely unknown territory I sorely missed my trusty navigator. As a direct result of this event my two children decided that my Christmas present this year should be a Sat Nav, given that I undertook a number of long distance journeys to visit family.

Anxious to give my new toy a good road test my friend MeaMo joined me in a day out to the Birks (Scots for birch) of Aberfeldy, a popular walk about an hour away. We had great fun and several false starts with the Sat Nav but it soon settled into the correct mode and directed us safely to our destination. The outside temperature was only 1' and the sky was grey as we descended into Aberfeldy but we noticed a strange sliver of smoke/cloud which drifted in a completely straight line across our view of the hills above the town. We eventually discovered that the source was a bonfire and while the smoke initially went vertically it seemed to hit a 'roof' which resulted in the long straight line of smoke which we had seen hanging over the town. Someone may correct me but I think the prevailing low pressure system prevented the smoke from rising to any height! Whatever the reason it made for a very attractive and unusual entrance into the valley.

Once suitably clad against the cold we enjoyed a wonderful walk with the dogs, up the steep gorge of the Moness burn where the water frequently tumbled into waterfalls. The damage from the recent high winds was evident everywhere and many trees had fallen in and around the burn, scattering branches and smaller woody debris into the water and around the sides of the gorge. The climb helped to warm us up but it was still very cold and about halfway up we came across a mossy bank where water had been dripping and had now turned into long icicles. I chose this one to blip from the various photos taken because it was pretty special and unlikely that I would see it on another occasion. Further on again we noticed twigs which had been frozen into white tentacles by spray coming from a nearby waterfall. My friend MeaMo will be featuring this in her journal Aye Spy.

Following the walk we were ready to enjoy a superb bowl of thick home made soup and fresh bread in town before we began our journey home. Shortly after rising from the valley we came across Loch Na Craige, which we had noticed on our way in, but this time the reflections of the surrounding hills, intensified by the coldness of the water and mottled by patches of ice, prompted me to stop the car for a photo shoot. It had been a great day out.