Thursday 8 January 2009

Winter woollies needed . . .

Ice stalactites . . .



I was feeling well enough to venture outside today and as my husband came along to look for extra firewood, I decided we would carefully venture along by the side of the river where we used to take the children down to the pebble beach when they were younger. You would not want to skim stones or paddle there today! Every curve of rock at the side of the river was coated with a slick of ice and icicles hung from overhangs. At the side of the river, pebbles were frozen into solid lumps and where a spring bubbles out of the river-bank, huge ice boulders heaved their shoulders. Of course, by North American standards it is nothing, but we've never had a winter spell this cold and lasting all the time we have lived in Wales, and no winter to compare since the awful one of 1962-63, as I've probably mentioned before.

We scrambled across the mossy rocks at the side of the river, looking into pools frozen into hard translucent stones of ice. The river is deep enough in the valley bottom to only get the winter sunshine for a short period each day at this time of year.

Beneath you can see that the edge of the river was starting to freeze over and there were swags of ice ropes joining it to the river bank.

There is a spring here but it has frozen solid now.

Pools are no longer pools.

The view downstream.

The boulders were slick with ice.


The sunshine doesn't really reach onto the river at this time of year.

It is all set to thaw over the weekend and I think I will be quite relieved . . .

14 comments:

Greentwinsmummy said...

hoohoo!! am cheering! what fantastic photographs BB :O)I adore the one of the bulbous swags of icicles dangling into the rive,they look so other worldly.
I read in the paper today that Februarys cold weather is supposed to make this all look rather tame....
Dont be packing those woolies away just yet m'dear lol!
GTM x

Rowan said...

This is so beautiful, it must be a lovely place whatever the time of year. The frozen water and icicles make magical pictures.

sukipoet said...

Beautiful pictures. that water sure looks cold. I don my winter woolies in October and remove them in April. Well of course I do remove them to wash them but otherwise it is double or triple layers of clothes.

Jane Badger said...

Wonderful pictures - thank you!

Cheryl said...

The weather here is exactly the same....ditches and ponds are frozen. The rivers are also iced up.....I will be glad when it thaws.......

nita x said...

gorgeous, magical pictures jennie, thank you for sharing them :o)

LBP said...

Those photos make me go BRRRRR!!!! Hope all is well with you and your family!

Blessings

Linda

nancy said...

These photos are amazing! Be careful out there.
Love,
Nancy

Willow said...

Such wintry scenes BB! I can't remember a prolonged cold spell like this either - it really is relentless, isn't it?! I wonder how the poor birds are coping this winter and whether we'll see a significant drop in numbers this year?
Willow x

Leanne said...

Jennie, those photos are truly stunning, well done you, and the new camera!

leanne x

Bovey Belle said...

Glad that you all enjoyed this further round of photos. It is still pretty much like that down on the river, though we are getting the thaw first, 100 feet or so higher up and the fish pond is definitely looking less solid - that had about 6" of ice on it!

I'm very pleased with the new camera and looking forward to properly getting to grips with all it can do. The colour on it is particularly good.

Anonymous said...

I came from Sandra's blog Diary of a SAHM, your photographs are beautiful. I love the winter weather and it's effects on the countryside.

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Such a beautiful area, you live in! I'm so happy that I happened over here, from another blog. And sure I'll love returning again and again.

Not only for your entries, but to try to rev-up my taking photos. I've fallen way off my stride, of taking pics. -sigh- You do such a wonderful job of your photography. With luck, you'll inspire me to get back out and take, take, take pictures. :-)

Well, _after_ the deep Winter months of January and February are past, that is.

Aunt Amelia
"Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star."
~~Lucy Maud Montgomery

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Back again, because I returned, following some of your entries linked, about the history of your area. <--Wow, run-on sentence hu? ,-)

Anyway, amazing that you didn't slip and break something, with all that ice slickness! But what amazingly beautiful photos you got! I love, love, love photos of frozen water. :-) Just beautiful.

Aunt Amelia
"I wish the sky would rain down roses... They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet: and it would be like sleeping and yet waking all at once." ~~George Eliot