Northern Twilight

How bashful the sun

In a northern December,

Midday and barely risen,

About to surrender.

The fractal heathland's lit

By gentle, careworn rays.

Shadows, always elongate,

Reach further as light fades.

A much loved dog trots gamely on,

His radiance fading too.

But Scotland's twilight is prolonged,

And he is not yet through. 

Still in fashion

I'm pleased to report that Gail and I survived Storm Arwen on Friday night, with no damage to person or property in our little corner of Aberdeen. Gail felt a bit sorry for the folk who were stuck on a train inbetween here and Inverness for 17 hours, but in my experience Scotrail staff keep generous supplies of shortbread on board, so no-one would have had to go hungry. 

By Sunday the storm force winds had been replaced by snow and ice.

So Gail pulled my red 'Nordic snowflake' jumper out of my winter clothing bag and suggested I put it on for our planned outing to Forvie Nature Reserve.

For some reason she seemed delighted that I would be able to wear this home-knitted sweater for a second year, and rather scoffed when I expressed concern at being seen in last season's outfit. She assured me today's trend is for clothes which last, and that 'fast fashion' is no longer de rigueur. 

Whatever. 

To say the weather at Forvie was changeable would be an understatement.

But I will say one constant was that everyone we met* on the hour long walk did comment on my fine knitwear. 

So I guess for once Gail was right. 

*Gail says: "everyone we met" - that would be just three other hardy walkers.

Ahead of the storm

Back in Aberdeen, and Gail insists on a longer walk first thing this morning.

"Before Storm Arwen arrives".

Things don't look too bad in Duthie Park.

But by the time we reach the other side of the river the storm clouds are amassing and the wind gaining strength.

Time to hasten home! 

Did you know that our storms are named in alphabetical order?

Hmmm. So after Arwen, the next one will begin with B.

Storm Bertie has rather a fine ring to it, don't you think? 

Happy Nature Friday friends!  And thanks once again to our blog hop hosts the LLB Gang. 

Too bedraggled?

It all started off so promisingly...

Gail was keen to investigate a new footpath she'd only just found out about. It goes through Kinloch Woodlands, a 3600 acre area of hill ground to the south of Shieldaig (half an hours drive from the Torridon cottage). The land is managed by a local charitable trust and a project aiming to regenerate native forest is underway.

Here's a map. The plan was to follow the path to Loch Dughaill,  indicated by the red dashed line. 

Please note - the map is 'upside down' with south at the top

A round trip of not much more than two miles. Easy peasy, right?

Except that before long the nice dry and well made track gave way to an indistinct path across rough and boggy ground...

Did I mention it's been raining a lot round here lately?

No photos were taken of the second half of the route, as we stumbled through the mire, teetered on slimy rocks to cross a rain-swollen torrent and at one point Gail had to carry me after my courage failed when faced with a stretch of hummocky marsh where you had to jump between tussocks of grass to avoid slipping awkwardly into the fetid mud. (The photo below, taken from the internet, is a good illustration of these conditions.) 

Shortly after we reached solid ground again Gail put me down but soon we turned back, with  the final descent to the Loch looking far from straightforward and Gail by now unwilling to tackle any further obstacles. To be honest, I wasn't sorry.

But can you believe that when a spectacular rainbow appeared in the sky near the end of the hike, Gail rejected my offer of my customary  'foreground interest' services on the basis that I looked "too bedraggled" and thus would spoil her photo...

Too bedraggled. What do you think?