Snow Drop

It really was no more than a sprinkling of snow, a snow drop, if you like. But the smattering of snow provided a shroud of white to the countryside in Hampshire this morning and while it has been bitterly cold for a day or two, provided us with the first real taste of winter.
Thankfully I did not need to be out and about first thing, and even though I am well used to driving on snow, given the choice I’ll stay at home.
That’s not to say it hasn’t provided us with fun and memorable experiences in the past. I think my most demanding drive in snow was a few years back heading south through France to Macon for New Year. We first encountered the snow near Canterbury while heading to the ferry at Dover. On landing at Calais we thought we had left the snow behind.  But 270 kilometres, or around 169 miles, on we ran into it again in champagne country at Reims.  And there was still another 410 kilometres (255 miles) to go.
In normal circumstances that’s another four hours’ driving, and we had reckoned on being at Macon around 11pm. That turned out to be just on 5am after a frustrating journey down the autoroute with stops at each and every service area to clear the windscreen and take a breather. Eventually we saw a snowplougth heading south, and were able to tuck in behind it  for the remainder of the journey. Even then we had to pick a difficult, though short route into the hills to our final destination.
But we have encountered similar drives in heavy snow in this country, and north of the border in Scotland, as well as in Switzerland and Italy and indeed on another memorable drive in Finland.

So today’s smattering should have presented little problem. Even so, I was very happy to take a late breakfast which was almost brunch, and venture out to get milk and other necessities much later.