Beached Beech

After so many very grey, wet days, it was the most amazing tonic to be presented with blue skies and dazzling light this morning, an opportunity to escape for a bike ride. I managed to move quickly enough to keep the hands and feet warm ... just.

I spotted this tree while climbing out of Burnsall the other day and made a mental note to myself. I do that a lot and the vast majority of those notes get forgotten. Today, descending into Burnsall, I remembered. The memory is perhaps improving ... in my dreams.

Even on such a bright day, at a time of year when the leaves are burnished golden, it would hard to spot this on what is a steeply winding and fast descent. The eyes are best kept looking straight ahead. It felt good to have found a new composition along such a familiar stretch of road.