Buttercup Meadows

I think this is now the fourth successive evening I've been sitting at my desk, writing up my journal at just after 9pm, watching the sun set out of a completely cloudless sky. Not really a dramatic sunset as there is no cloud to provide any dynamic, but it's still mesmerisingly beautiful and I can follow it's nightime trajectory with my mind's eye, rather appropriately following a path just under my bed, to where it will re-emerge in the morning into the north-east sky. I'm hoping I won't be awake to witness that! I certainly wasn't this morning!

It feels like it's been a lazy day - despite the fact that I've spent all afternoon on the bike. I slept in to 9am, read my current book (The Stolen Village) on my balcony for an hour, soaking up the morning sun, then went to watch Roam's Under 9s team that he's helping to coach this year. He's doing a great job with these kids and I'm so proud of him. It was so funny to watch these youngsters starting out with the game. Boundless enthusiasm but not a lot of technical ability. The former is the most important right now. It brought back a lot of fond memories. The frightening thing is that it really wasn't that many years ago when my two lads were this small!

The weather was too perfect to laze around for long so I headed out on the bike into the Dales, the legs a little tired from yesterday's exertions, but not unduly so. I decided to do one of my favourite routes, a circuit I rode back in March, but reversing the direction. It took me over the hills to Pateley Bridge, up Nidderdale to Lofthouse and then over the moors to Ellingstring, into Coverdale to descend Park Rash to Kettlewell and back home down Wharfedale for about 75 rather hilly miles.

It was stunningly beautiful, the colours incredibly intense in this amazingly harsh early summer light. But it's so hard to capture. I really found photograhy a lot easier in the winter! The theme of the day was buttercups. The meadows were literally ablaze with them today. I'm not sure I remember them being as vividly present in the fields last year so perhaps the pattern of the weather has allowed them to flourish this Spring. I was tempted to go minimalist with this amazing meadow here, but in the end I went with the one you see above, of the Wharfe Valley just south of Kettlewell. I fell in love with all the subtle textures and hues in the enclosed fields on the other side of the valley. The photo hasn't really captured all the nuances that were there to be seen, but this shot does it reasonable justice. Above the treeline you can see the limestone escarpment and beyond that the moors. This shot reveals the geomorphology of Dales country quite beautifully.

Still to get dinner and have a bath but I will be returning later. I have notification that there are a number of important milestone blips to comment on tonight!