Signs of Spring.

As it was yet another windy but sunny day Peter and I decided to go out for a walk. 

Our original plan was to walk up the hill behind Furnace but then Peter wasn't sure if his ankles were up to the hilly section which is his call as only he knows what state his arthritis is in. But after looking at several alternatives including driving up the lane and parking higher up he decided that the original plan would do. We packed up some coffee and sandwiches for lunch as although we don't usually eat lunch it's different when you're out walking. Right at the bottom of the hill we were greeted by a very friendly small black cat very much like Mitten, a stray we once had. Cat petting over we made our way up the lane to the rough land at the top of the hill. From there we turned onto the footpath that runs around the hill giving great views over the estuary and out to sea.

(Below) That's Peter on the path while I had climbed up a pony path for better views. One day I'll do the walk alone and go right up over the hill to look for the ponies that live out there. As we were eating our lunch a man came by. He told us he was going up to check on his ponies. 

The hill behind had been providing welcome shelter from the strong north-westerly wind but as we got further round the hill the wind picked up. We had our snack sheltering on the small knoll to the left of the lonely tree.

There were plenty of signs of Spring around us including a great swathe of wood anemones. The whole of the area if you draw a line from top right to bottom left of the photo above was filled with the delicate white flowers. Not something you would expect to see on a bramble covered hillside.

And there were wood violets everywhere.

We carried on round the hill then down the slope to where a wood ran alongside the old toll road. I tried my best but could not get a photo of the large yellow brimstone butterflies that kept appearing and then fluttering away. There were also some red/brown butterflies but never close enough for me to identify.

At least plants stay still for their photos.

At home I hung out some more dust sheets I'd found and hoovered the bedroom before spending some time sitting out in the sun watching the cormorants diving into the sea with that tell tale plume of water as they plunged underwater. If the fish are around hopefully it won't be too long before I get to see the dolphins again.

It will be choir tonight. At least that's not as hard work as last night's kettle bell session. 

The Mole's Revenge.

Bright and sunny today with a good drying wind too. I got the last of the dust sheets out on the line, again some only needed airing while others needed washing. 

It was a good day to cycle to the zoo, apart from the wind which I had to battle against. I think all those squats might have made cycling easier though as it is the first time I've been on the bike this year it was hard to tell. And I forgot to put on the memory foam seat cover I bought in Lidl last week. 

Once at the zoo I went to the large play area to carry on weeding. Last week I'd flattened down 20 mole hills and tidied the soil that had gone over the grass as well. This week there were a few mole hills in one corner so I dealt with those first before weeding most of the wood chip. It always gets me that a couple of tiny green leaves hide several inches of roots. I was pleased with my progress and was having a chat with a fellow volunteer whilst easing my back when !!!! there was a brand new mole hill on the spot I had cleaned up earlier. I'm afraid I made sure to push some of that soil back into the mole's tunnel as part of my clearing up. Mr Mole can go and make his hills elsewhere thank you very much.

But that wasn't the only 'event' of my weeding session. While I was working a chap and his daughter came over to me to tell me there was a dead mouse or baby rat in the rabbits' enclosure. Over I went to look and sure enough there was a brown furry creature lying on the ground. The chap said that it had been running round and round trying to find a way out but had been defeated by the concrete walls of what used to be the meercat enclosure. I hopped over the wall (long legs are useful) and as I went to scoop up what definitely wasn't a baby rat I noticed that it was still breathing. It was too big to be a mouse and it had a long tail for a vole. (I have since looked it up and bank voles have much longer tails that water voles.) I carefully took the vole over to a sunny spot in some rough ground beside the pony paddock and soon after the vole scurried off. Much to all our relief.

After cycling home (I did get off and push the bike up the two steepest slopes by the house.) I had a lovely relaxing time with a mug of tea out on the terrace. From there I can check on the progress of the latest flowers and see which garden jobs need doing next.

Not to mention watch the waves. With a strong wind blowing the spray once in a while the water droplets would created a prism effect as the sun shone through them.

I didn't do anything else apart from my exercises and preparing my supper. Shortly I'll be off to the hall for Pilates with my new mat and groan - my kettlebell. I'd been meaning to buy a new mat for some time as my old one is all crinkly on the edges and is hard to flatten out after 7 years of use.

Sunny, Eventually.

Vytas didn't forget me either. We had a lovely long chat last night and this morning these beautiful flowers arrived.

Weather-wise the morning was a disappointing grey with the sea flat enough for two paddleboarders to be out at 7.30. With no wind the grey clouds hung around for most of the morning. Later the wind picked up, blew the clouds away and we were back to sunshine once more. The sort-out of the utility room is going very slowly but today I made a start on the dustsheets stored in the cupboards. Unfortunately stuff get a little damp in those cupboards. Some of the dustsheets needed washing while others were fine with an airing on the line. I went up in the loft to look for some other stuff and brought down more of the large plastic tubs to store the aired dust sheets and old towels in. 

I've also done a bit of gardening mainly weeding and putting in sticks to support things like the hardy geraniums which are already putting out new leaves. 

A few more photos from yesterday.

New-born twin lambs, no more than a day or two old.

A happy Muscovy duck having a bath.

Somebody yesterday mentioned the high cost of adopting a dog from a rescue shelter. Thinking I'd mis-heard I looked it up and I had heard right. The RSPCA charges are - puppies from £400 (my friend's daughter was being asked £600) and dogs from £350. I know there are vet costs for neutering, vaccinations etc but those charges seem very high to me. You'd think they'd want to encourage people to adopt unwanted dogs. Not that I'm considering a dog but definitely a cat (or two) at some point. That would be £75 per cat which is not so bad.

A Walk Above Tal Y Bont.

A chilly wind and some haze at times but mostly sunny today. A good day for walking in the hills.

I accepted the offer of a lift with a couple who live around the corner but when I got there they were quite surprised as they hadn't realised that the clocks had gone forward an hour. If I hadn't of turned up they would have missed the walk! We met up with the rest of our group at Tal Y Bont, left one car there and drove up to Taliesin's Grave a bronze age cairn later said to be the resting place of the poet Taliesin. To our surprise the harp that we had seen on our last visit was still there.

Our walk today was mainly on quiet roads with a few footpaths through fields full of sheep and lambs and one steep climb up a wooded slope that ruled out the walk as being suitable for Peter.

We crossed the Afon Cletwr by a stone bridge the sturdy construction of which made us wonder if it was part of the old toll road system.

Eventually we took a footpath to a high point on some rough ground. We opted to sit sheltered from the wind looking back across our route (Taliesin's Grave is on the hill directly behind the tall tree.) Afterwards we ventured onto the windy side for views out to sea. (Below.)

We returned along the same road we had walked down.

Today is Mothers' Day and I was thrilled to have a long phone chat with Romas this morning. (I suspect Peter might have sent out a reminder.) Later I got to thinking about why I find the day difficult. Apart from losing Linas, Mothers' Day has never been a big thing in our house. For a start it didn't feature as part of our mine and Peter's upbringing. The Lithuanian Mothers' Day is on a different day and for Peter it was about a special mass in church and flowers for the mothers and for me I don't recall anything. I was at boarding school from the age of 6 and I suppose it was thought that making a card or a present would simply have reminded us that we were away from our mothers. Very different from when I was teaching young children when making and writing a card and making a present were great teaching opportunities. When I was older school was for education and not doing fun stuff and with no extended family, television and of course no internet how would I have known about Mothers' Day? I think it was more when I was teaching and hearing from other members of staff how their families treated them that I began to feel I was missing out. And now of course I just miss seeing our sons. Which is probably what all mothers with spread out families feel.

Off on a Demo.

I was optimistic about my chances of seeing the partial solar eclipse this morning as I thought the light cloud cover would make it easier to see. (Through the camera, not with the naked eye.) But although I took a number of photos this was the best I got with a tiny sliver of the sun covered up in the top right hand quadrant.

It was still cloudy when we drove down to Ynyslas to join a protest demo about the closing of the Visitors' Centre. 

There weren't many cars there when we arrived but once more people (and dogs) began arriving there were about 100 protestors in total. We had been asked to wear red if possible and an ample supply of red flags had been made at a workshop last week.

Then we made our way down to the Visitors' Centre and as well as some chanting, for the sake of the videos being made, we heard more about the work of the five wardens who are now out of a job. The NRW who are closing the centre from Monday have tried to make out their role was to provide refreshments which are just a self-service coffee machine and some pre-packed cakes and biscuits. What they actually do is; patrol the reserve clearing up rubbish and dog poo bags (disgusting dog owners!), ensure that the nesting sites of the ringed plover an endangered bird are fenced off to prevent disturbance by people and dogs and as the bird's territories extend to the waters' edge the fences have to be moved twice daily with the tides, ensure that people follow the beach safety rules of no inflatables or swimming (there are very dangerous currents) and because there is no phone signal they are the point of contact for the emergency services which includes whenever suspected ordnance is found as the dunes were a bomb testing site in the war. Last year there were two occasions when lifeboats had to be called out for people being swept away in the sea. One lady told us how she had fallen from her horse last year on the beach resulting in spinal injuries and had lain on the sand for four hours being looked after by one of the wardens until she could be taken to hospital. (The air ambulance had been called but in the end she went in a land ambulance.) And there are school parties already booked to come and see the excellent displays and learn about the dune and maritime ecosystems. They'll be disappointed.

It may only have been a small demo but as someone said- It's just a start.

After our protest Peter drove home but I had decided to walk back to Borth along the beach as it's only four miles.

No sooner had I started walking than I felt the first drops of rain but being me I carried on. I didn't even have a waterproof coat on as I'd borrowed a red fleece jacket of Peter's to wear. The rain got heavier and by the time I reached the beach my camera was safely in its plastic bag inside my backpack. I just put my head down and strode on with the wind sending icy needles of rain into my face. Very luckily before we left I'd grabbed a neck tube which I pulled over my nose to protect the lower part of my face. With that and the hood of a black hoody pulled over my woolly hat I must have looked like quite a suspect character. At least I could stride out on the sand and once I reached Borth I walked along the sea wall and then down the High st instead of on the awkward shingle. The four miles only took an hour and a quarter which is good going for me.

Once home I put on my warmest clothes, hung up my wet attire and warmed up watching the tv and the heavy rain outside the window.

Surfs Up.

Lots of rain in the night and none during the day. Looking out of the windows this morning, in one direction was a clear blue sky while in another black clouds could be seen. The day has been mostly bright but with a strong and cold wind.

I got to the stables this morning and had to park in the lane as part of the entrance by the level crossing has been re- concreted this week. After falling into the same pot hole two weeks in a row last winter I've driven very carefully as close to the fence as possible. It was not nice hearing the car going thunk into that hole.

There were seven of us in the lesson and I had Hazel again. I repeated my act of rebellion and kept her flash noseband as loose as possible. I'm enjoying riding her and working on getting her to bend to the inside of the school. The best exercise is to do lots of circles which I tried to do but it was hard to find a gap to slot back between the other riders. As a class we worked on turn on the forehand and did some leg yielding as well, both of which Hazel can do.

 

I did my usual shopping run but didn't go to Charlie's. I did find a couple of grasses in Morrisons, a blue fescue and another which might be stipa tenuissima or a greener version. (The label just said mixed grasses.) In town I carried on my search for something to make a Viking tunic for myself. It needs to be knee length, have long sleeves and be brown/ beige. I kept finding tops that ticked two of those criteria but not all three. That's why having plenty of time helps. 

At home I threw my riding clothes into the washing machine, got a Bara Brith in the oven and plonked myself down with one eye on the telly and the other on the surfers enjoying the waves.

Computer Troubles.

There was a lot of rain in the night and though the day has been dry it has remained grey.

There I was this afternoon all ready to start our Welsh Zoom class, I could see that everyone was present though with the sound and cameras off until our tutor was ready to start when ......... my pc buzzed and developed coloured rectangles amongst the black looking like a modernist quilt. There was nothing for it but to call Peter to help. He did his best but couldn't get past the start up screen with the circling dots. I fired up the laptop to use instead and that played up too. It's set up for both of us and I shouldn't need a password to get to my stuff but it wouldn't let me in. In the end I joined Peter in his study and did the first half of the class sitting next to him. By tea break time Peter had got my pc back to working again which was a great relief. He's going to investigate both the pc and the laptop tomorrow. 

Here are more photos from yesterday - 

 

Harlech Castle -   

Built 1282-1289b by Edward I.

Criccieth Castle -built in the 1230s by Llywelyn the Great.

Sitting above the estuary Portmeirion is a whimsical Italianate hotel/ holiday complex built in 1926. It is also famous for being the set of the 1960s tv classic The Prisoner. I've never seen the programme but I do know that the mysterious large ball that chased the prisoner on the sand was just an inflated ball tied to his ankle. I hope to visit Portmeirion next year on St David's day when entry is free and I can also use my free travel pass. Peter is adamant that he has no interest in visiting Portmeirion but I'm happy to go on my own.

In Barmouth I was impressed by a row of trailing rosemary bushes growing over a wall.

Having failed to steal any of our fish and chips these seagulls gave up and merely kept their beady eyes on us from the beach wall.