Chilly.

The view for most of the day was very wintry with silvery grey sea and sky and a cold wind blowing down from the north.

The fish must be returning as I'm seeing increasing numbers, well two or three, fishermen fishing off the rocks under the cliff. This morning I saw what at first I thought was a dolphin but turned out to be a large seal. 

It was really hard to make out and in this photo below it looks more like a dog. I got some (tiny) views of its tail as it dived down and it was definitely not a dog, though maybe a dogfish.

I spent my day having a good tidy up of the paving in the front garden including sweeping up as much of the red dust as I could before rain turns it into red sludge. Then there were half a dozen heavy 2ft square street paving slabs that needed stuff chipped off them before I could stack them up in the corner to possibly become a platform for a water butt. I did a bit of moving around of plants too. Having only grown daffodils in grass I hadn't realised how messy the leaves would be in the raised beds by the steps so those bulbs have all gone down into the main borders. I also managed to move a fennel plant which if it survives will create a summer screen between the neighbours' sitting room window and our garden. 

And now for the second half of yesterday's walk when we took a circular route along lanes and footpaths.

Having got a bit higher up we were able to see Aber in a gap between the hills (the white building is Maes Y Mor the assisted living place by the harbour that we sang carols at). Also visible was the coast to the north with the familiar outline of the hills above Aberdyfi and Tywyn.

It's lambing time so the fields were full of lambs. Beyond in the far distance to the east were the faint outlines of the Cambrian mountains.

Dramatic windswept trees.

The next place of interest was this grand farm and mill. It now belongs to the university, one of many farms acquired when the university had a large agricultural department.  The house that was behind us on the other side of the yard is privately owned. As we approached a pack of dogs; three sheep dogs, a Jack Russell and a Labrador, came rushing out and up the lane barking quite ferociously. The Jack Russell was the loudest but there was some nasty growling from a couple of the sheepdogs. It's a public footpath but I would have been concerned if I had been walking alone. At least with nine of us it evens the chances a bit.

The dogs followed and carried on barking as we stopped to look at the back of the building and the remains of a waterwheel which would have driven the mill machinery. We had our lunch a little further up the lane perched on a pile of gravel by an un-scenic open sided barn. However the sound of the birds was lovely and included the tapping of a woodpecker and the rough cry of a raven.