This is the sky that I saw just by the mountain gate at nearly sunset time today. I had just had to wait for a young farmer to finish moving sheep from the top pens to the fields on the opposite side of the road, but it was just so good to be back up on the mountain again.
But in the quest for fresh air ... oh my was it cold up there this evening, even the mole hills were showing signs of just how icy and bitter it was, there was more to come as I drove on towards a higher viewpoint. The daft dog was excited and deeply inhaling the air, it's been weeks since we've been up here, but what a sky awaited us. Just after I'd parked up on higher ground, the familiar sight of a Land Rover, one the dog knows well. Another farmer who ... in the process of inoculating a ram got two cracked ribs. Luckily for him, it has not been a bad enough injury to stop him working but ... he is the last of the line, neither son wants to follow in his footsteps and with about 800 ewes to attend to he really has his work cut out. He even told me that he had been fencing this week, despite also having a cold. Believe me when I say, farmers are a tough breed! He drove off into the sun setting horizon to feed all his sheepdogs before dark descended.
Where I had parked the car up (amazingly working) these sights met my eyes ... ice.
The mountain tracks were just frozen and the ground underfoot, hard and unyielding, not that the daft dog minded in the slightest. There were scents to sniff, most probably other dogs or ... most likely foxes, there are few if any sheep on the mountain at the moment.
A heavy mist was hanging low over the mountain heights and deep in the valleys below. Visibility at ground level was getting rather limited but the setting sun lit up the whole area with rose gold light which was reflected off the puddles, now turned to a more solid form.
My hands were getting cold and operating the camera was a bit of a struggle but ...
is it me or is there a sort of Yogi Bear character in there >>>? It's one of the things I find so fascinating about the simple transformation of the liquidity of water into another temporarily existent, still frame, photo-graphical, never to be repeated ... art.
I you're not there at the time, quite simply, you miss it. But of course ... one might also be missing something more spectacular elsewhere! I think I'm lucky in that for most of the time, I am able to capture some of these moments and share them with all of you. Despite the cold, it was great to be back on the mountain again.
To see sights like these have just been uplifting for the recently flagging spirits ...
The mountain was settling into a mist sinking into the valleys and a sunset up above.
Driving back home I had to stop the car to take one last photograph of some lovely ancient ash trees that have lost their leaves but the bare branches were silhouetted against the last of the evening's setting sun. A really lovely way to end this very cold day.
No comments:
Post a Comment