Stormy.

At first glance this morning everything looked very monochrome with the horizon fading into a featureless sky. But as I sat, just inside the door to avoid the light drizzle, I began to notice faint smudges in the sky, rain clouds that were being blown along by a south-westerly wind.

And in the far distance a section of the horizon became visible as the cloud cover lifted lifted to reveal the hills of the Llyn Peninsula. 

Later on great breakers began to roll in, a sure sign of stormy weather out to sea. One brave surfer was out there for a while, I think it's the guy who lives in a house right by the beach and is a very experienced surfer. Then hours later the storm itself arrived turning the bay into a mass of white waves. The rain is so fierce that I can't open the door to take a photo without getting a face full of rain.

Earlier, while it was still dry I went out and did some gardening filling three bags with growth from the knautia in just one raised bed. Although they still had a few flowers they needed to be cleared before I could construct a cold frame using two pieces of perspex that have been wired together on one side. In the spring I use them as a cloche but now they are tucked in a corner between two low walls. This storm will be a good test of the way I've weighed down the top one. Inside the cold frame are two pots of osteospermum and some bowls of mixed sedums though now I'm thinking that the sedums can come indoors on the utility room window sill. 

I also painted the undersides of the two shelves destined for the sitting room. Once the batons are cut I can paint them white and who knows we may soon have the long awaited alcove shelves. I hadn't attempted to make them myself before now because my hands are simply not strong enough to operate the tool for the umbrella type fittings needed for the plasterboard there.

The next batch of tomatoes and a bent courgette. There were more of the yellow cherry tomatoes but they were eaten before I thought to take a photo. Right now I'm munching on a Golden Russet apple. It was good to see British apples in the supermarket last week and even better to find some russets. I think we become jaded when every kind of produce is available all year round and lose that sense of anticipation for seasonal favourites.

Close ..... but no coconut.

The forecast hadn't been good for today but with no word from the airfield we were up with the sun so that we could make an early start for our drive to Anglesey. Through the kitchen window the village houses were silhouetted against a fiery red sky which very quickly faded to orange and shortly after the rest of the sky turned a lovely shade of pink. I sat out on the terrace listening to the waves shushing against the shore while one set of garden chimes tinged gently in the breeze. Down in the garden a small dunnock whose puffed up plumage made him/her? look like a pom-pom foraged on the paving under the overhanging grasses. It was working its way along the cracks between the paving slabs either eating grass seeds which had been trapped there or the ants which live below the paving. A red kite drifted across my view as it patrolled the cliff-top but the dunnock took no notice of that fearsome predator.

Peter spoke to someone at the airfield at 8.30 and it was all systems go ..... until five minutes before we were due to leave there came the message that the winds were increasing and the pilot said it wouldn't be safe. So yet another postponement. 

Rather than simply stay at home we decided to at least do something. After rejecting a visit to the osprey centre I found somewhere in Snowdonia, not too far away where there were a couple of short circular walks and the possibility of a longer uphill walk. This was the start of the Minffordd Path which leads up to Cadair Idris. We did not intend walking the whole way which although only 5 miles there and back is very steep and the time given is 5 hours. (And that is for fit young people.)

Driving there we passed Corris, which is the furthest I'd managed to get into Snowdonia and before long impressive peaks soared above us. (I was going to insert the dash cam video but it 'exceeds the limit' so a screenshot will have to do.)

We began our walk with a gentle stroll around some parkland. This was on a tidy asphalt path that was strangely humped along the centre. We couldn't work out if this was deliberate to allow water to run off, if somebody had been over enthusiastic when putting down the asphalt or if it was due to be rolled flat. It meant that unless you walked in the very centre your ankles were being twisted sideways and for anyone with wheels like a wheelchair or a child's buggy it would also be precarious.

We followed the Parkland Trail which took us through a wooded area that included ornamental trees and bushes such as redwoods and acers alongside the native plants. Beside us ran a pretty stream tumbling over rocks. I get to see many such streams on my Sunday walks but this was new for Peter.

Having come to a gate leading to the start of the main trail up to Cadair we thought we'd give it a try and see how Peter's ankles stood up to the very steep climb. We kept the pace steady and turned back when he felt he had done enough. It would have been better if we had brought our hiking sticks with us especially on the descent as the steps were very variable and often quite high.

Some of the steps had wooden risers but many more were built from rocks. It must have been a major undertaking to construct such sturdy and stable steps from the rounded river rocks which carried on far up the hillside. 

The rounded shape of the rocks with mosses and ferns growing over them gave the whole area a fairy tale like atmosphere and we shall certainly be coming back to explore here again. Hopefully to at least get above the tree line.

To one side of the path was a gorge with the stream tumbling over the rocks and forming numerous waterfalls making it seem even more magical.

Afterwards we drove down the valley and stopped in a lay-by beside Llyn Myngul, a glacial ribbon lake formed by a glacial landslip. Apologies for the random person who was followed by his companion and then proceeded to take selfies and make videos right in the middle of my best view. The weather had already begun to change at this point, a cold easterly wind was blowing and there were spits of rain in the air. Like sensible older folk we sat in the car drinking coffee and eating biscuits. 

From there we carried on to Tywyn on a route almost parallel to our initial route to Mach but on the far side of the first mountains.

Tywyn is the seaside town we see far across the bay so of course we had to stop at the beach and take a photo of Borth. (Our house is just above the Tywyn beach witches' hat but about 10 miles away across the sea.) From Tywyn we followed the coast road that runs on the far side of the estuary back up to Mach and then home. The whole outing took us three and a half hours and maybe we'll take more in the future. Or I can go on my own.

By the time we reached home the rough weather had set in with heavy rain. Although the waves were trying to get to shore the strong wind was flattening them out and pushing the sea sideways across the bay which was strange to watch.

Mostly Sunny.

It was a lovely start to the day but then the sky darkened, rain fell and it looked like we were in for a gloomy day. 

Peter was due to go rowing, or at least be the cox for a row though before anyone could call it off due to the weather conditions the rain stopped. Off he went warmly clad in his yellow coat and then out came the sun. He's not home yet but I'm guessing they had a very nice row.

While he was out I got on with a secret mission. It's our wedding anniversary next week and besides the usual bottles of beer I thought I'd make him something to hang his caps on as he seems to have a few; one for this rowing club, one for the old club, one for the RNLI and a scruffy one for working in. It's just a bar of wood painted white with coat hooks on but even that takes a little organising. It's all made and painted and I've even discretely marked where I need to drill the holes in the wall of his study. After that I gave the shelves he's been making for the sitting room from an old scaffolding plank, a light coat of watered down white paint. The wood isn't in good enough condition to leave it unpainted but my ideas is to paint it lightly so that the grain of the wood still shows through. It may or may not work and if it doesn't then I'll just paint them white.

Having looked up the new plants I found that the Calocephalus is only half-hardy so will need to be in the cold frame (once I make it) over the cold months. That put paid to my plan of putting it next to the stone blocks on the shingle and instead it will go in a pot. The artemisia which is a low one went by the stone instead. Then as the weather was so good I got out the hedge trimmer and tidied up the long hedge. There had been a few shoots poking out of the top that were annoying me every time I looked at the view. As I was working the neighbour from across the road came out and offered to take the bag of trimmings up to his farm to burn. That was handy as Peter had already taken a very full load down to the dump in the morning.

Update - It was Simon, the guy who hires out paddleboards and gives lessons who did the rescue yesterday.

Then the sunset got even prettier.

RNLI Rescue.

Wild and very windy today with less rain than yesterday.

I'm going out of chronological order to start with this afternoon's drama. Having had a busy day I was sitting with my feet up when I saw my neighbour rushing up the garden. When I went out she told me that she thought she could hear somebody in the sea shouting for help. Sure enough there was a guy in the water calling for help. There were a number of people on the cliff already on their phones to the coastguard so there wasn't anything else we could do. As we watched a chap lying on a paddleboard was making his way towards the guy needing help. He eventually got to the 'casualty' (that's what they are called by the rescue services) who being unable to see much due to the high waves had carried on calling for help. We could see that although he was in a wetsuit he only had a bodyboard with him.  This was definitely not the day to be out with a bodyboard but city folk don't know.

A lady on the cliff told us that the rescuer had already been out and taken a first casualty to the shore. We watched as he helped the guy we could see onto his paddleboard and they waited for the RNLI who had launched the lifeboat and were coming to get them. Both of the men were taken to shore and the orange paddleboard was left to be washed onto the beach by itself. There was a group of people on the beach waiting to start their paddleboard lesson so I guess the rescuer was their instructor. I will find out more details from my inside source aka Dave. (It doesn't show well on the photo but there was a chunk of rainbow in the gap between the hills in the distance.)

And now back to my day - it's Friday so of course I had my riding lesson, on Cadno again and it all went very well. It was a bigger class, seven of us and all the work was in trot. We practised going from trot to halt and back to trot while keeping the horse nicely rounded on the bit. Cadno having done it all before has a tendency to anticipate so sometimes we trotted straight across the school rather than coming to a halt so that he had to listen to me rather than do the exercise by himself. We finished off by trotting shallow loops down a long side with the horse bending first in one direction, then another and then back to the first direction. Cadno and I did this excellently.

Then it was time for some shopping at Morrison's and afterwards at Charlie's where I bought new wellies, £19 and those were the cheapest. Some wellies cost over £100! While I was there I treated myself to more plants. The sedum (Cherry chocolate) was in the half-price corner and I had been intrigued by the Calocephalus Brownii when I saw it the last time I was there. The Artemisia Nana looked so lovely I just had to have it.

In my bid to avoid processed foods I decided to have another go at making chocolate brownies. The first time I did this recipe it was way too sweet so I cut back the sugar, maybe a little too much. I made the full amount this time as Peter expressed a desire for brownies, who knew? I cut it up and half of it is now in the freezer for another day. (Those squares are the remaining chocolate set into the top before baking.)

Rainbows.

The weather today has felt more intense. The sunny spells were brighter and hotter while the sudden showers have been dark and very heavy. And we've had some wonderful rainbows. (The second photo below has a section of a second faint rainbow on the far left.)

I've had a busy day. First thing this morning I drove to town for breast screening. Now that I'm almost seventy (falls off chair laughing) it's my last time though I can self refer if I really want. After getting squished I did the Lidl shopping as I've got quite a bit to do in town tomorrow. I bought some gin ready to get the sloe gin started. I've been keeping an eye on the price of gin for the last six months or so hoping to catch a special offer but the price in all of the supermarkets has never dropped below £18.75 for a litre. I think there must be a set price to stop anyone getting too sloshed on cheap gin. It must have been those mean Conservatives harking back to Hogarth.

The middle of the day was taken up with the Zoom class. We have two new people joining us this year. It's strange that in a class of ten people we have two chaps called Peter and two called Brian. What are the odds of that? We made good progress in the lesson using adjectives with my favourite subject - food.

Off in a minute to disco aerobics. The rain is back so I'll have to drive down.

Looking at the two clouds in the centre I wonder if they were trying to form waterspouts?

Wet.

It's been a day of heavy showers interspersed with moments of bright sun. The kind of weather that brought a view of intense colours that changed each time I looked out of the windows.

I may have been a bit too enthusiastic last night in Pilates as my back is twinging again today. Or it may have been the weeding, or even the long walk after. But here is a link to a post written by my Pilates teacher on the health benefits of exercise as you get older. So I shall keep on with the exercise and anything else that helps keep my mind and body in the best condition. 

As I stood out on the terrace with my coffee (the chairs were too wet to sit on and I couldn't be bothered to fetch out a chair.) there was a commotion on the water. A cormorant had surfaced directly underneath a gull that had been resting on the surface of the water. The gull went off in a flurry and so too did the cormorant.

It has been too wet for any outside work but I did take some cuttings from a pretty red rockery dianthus that is doing well. It's probably not the right time but I had a bit of space for cuttings so why not?

Some of my day has been spent messing about making a felted bauble. The design of two seagulls was inspired by the colours of the materials I already have but overall I'm not that impressed. It was more of an experiment to try felting a polystyrene ball in the washing machine and then adding a design.

Off later on to choir.

Silly Me.

It's been another greyish day but not too cold so I'm not complaining. Down on the beach there was a great commotion as a large flock of gulls fished for sprats in the shallows. (At least one bird in the photo has a fish in its beak.)

At last it wasn't raining and I had the time to go down to the zoo. It's been a few weeks since I was there so the weeds were everywhere. I managed to clear the whole of the gravel section by the guinea fowl and the small sections around the pens. For most of the time George the cockatoo was filling the air with a remarkable array of noises, screaming baby and a cat whose tail has been trodden on were his favourites. His aviary is in the 'staff only' area as cockatoos aren't counted as a domestic birds and he gets bored when nobody is in the food preparation room so he yells for attention.  

Afterwards I thought I had better collect some sloes as last year's sloe gin that I gave as Christmas presents went down very well. I went to my usual spot just along by the zoo but someone had beaten me to it and there was hardly a sloe to be picked. Out of contrariness I picked the three last accessible sloes.

Then I thought I'd try my luck and combine a walk along the River Leri with a hunt for sloes.

At least there was plenty to see and the air was sweet with the scent of the Himalayan Balsam growing down by the river.

Walking along I met somebody I know who was out with a friend and a dog. She told me that there were blackthorn bushes growing on the lane that runs on the far side of the bog though she didn't know if they had any sloes on them this year but onwards I went. As I crossed the river I saw another person I know bathing in the river with a friend. It was definitely bathing and not swimming as I doubt if there was more than 2ft of water in the river. We chatted for a while before I carried on.

There were blackthorn bushes growing along the lane but the sloes were few and far between. I risked life and limb or rather being stabbed by the sharp thorns and getting stung by the tall stinging nettles to pick just two or three sloes at a time. 

At least I had views across to Snowdonia and possibly even of Snowdon in the distance. There were plenty of blackberries for me to snack on,

and wild hops too.

I did better when I turned down to take a footpath across the bog and realised I could get to the other side of the blackthorn with a few more, though not that many sloes to pick. In the end I came home with 10oz of sloes which should be enough for this year's batch of sloe gin.

Eventually the path brought me back to the river but unfortunately I still needed to get across. The path led me to this ford and because I was quite tired having been walking for two hours, and didn't want to walk all the way to the road bridge I waded across the ford. This despite knowing that my boot leaked. I reached the other side, shook the water out of my boot and less than 20ft along the path I came to .......... a metal footbridge across the river that had been hidden by the trees. 

The second silly moment was when I made it back to the parking space where I had left the car. I had moved it from the zoo entrance to round the corner where the public can park whist I decided if I was going to look for sloes. But arriving back the car wasn't there. It had been on its own when I left it but now there a different car in the same space. I knew it wasn't mine as it was red while our little car is silver. All kinds of thoughts went through my head, was it behind the other car? had it rolled away?, had somebody from the zoo moved it? or ...... had it been stolen? I was planning my next move when the penny dropped, I was looking at the wrong parking space. Round the corner is another space which looks similar, same zoo fence, same ground and the same road. And of course once I walked around the corner there was the car. That's got to be a real silly me moment.

I got home without incident, had a bit of time to wash and stick the sloes in the freezer and then get ready for Pilates. It was a hard one tonight but I'm sure it's doing me good ..... I hope.