Upper Weardale, Very Upper Weardale

The snow is still lying deep and crisp and so on all around Crook and the A66 is still closed and, whilst Co Durham seems to have managed to open minor roads, neighbouring County Councils have not, so, until the snow consolidates a bit, which needs a thaw, which in turn might well remove it altogether, walking about in it is a bit of a bugger at the moment.

And so, having watched superdawg chase his tail all around the living room I considered that a proper walk was in order, and what better than to go and gawp at the big snowdrifts up the top of Weardale where the main road to Alston is supposed to be closed by enormous waves of white stuff?
A frozen brake fluid sensor in the knipemobile said that I had no brake fluid, but, as the brakes seemed to be working, I pressed on up the Dale and arrived without much excitement at Cowshill.

There was a bit of traffic coming over Killhope, so I was too late for the closed road, but nevertheless we traipsed off up the road towards Cumbria. The road had been ploughed and salted and the drifts were disappointingly small.

But there was virtually, no traffic, so it was quite enjoyable. I considered going off-piste a bit and wandering along the path by the river. Bruno plunged into the deep snow by the roadside and came out limping within a couple of minutes. A bit more work on the salted road sorted out the limping, but he has a short memory and lives for the moment. So the moment his paws stopped hurting, he was back into the soft powder, and limping again. At one point he was on three legs. Going into the deep powder could well disable him altogether, and quite quickly too. So we didn’t. There’s a certain type and temperature of snow which gets into the “palm” of the paws and turns into a ball of ice, or in this case, just burns his paws.

We returned the way we came, after covering just a couple of miles. We might try something a bit more local till some consolidation takes place, or , at least, a change in conditions.
Quite pretty, though….. and for anybody interested, the road is perfectly good just now.

Cabin Fever –restored

Rather than causing panic, annoyance, frustration or a nasty nervous rash to blogreaders, I’ve restored this deleted copy of “cabin fever” I’ve changed it a bit cos the original had a video of superdawg barking at the snow, but as it wouldn’t load (the reason for deletion), I got irritated and binned it in a fit of pique.

So here it is….  I hope it was worth it (there’s two ways of saying that phrase y’know…)

I was supposed to have a walk today, but there’s been a bit of a blizzard going on and off all day and the snow is deep and crisp and not very even, so instead, I put up some fairy lights on the holly tree and some around the window and did a bit of creative writing – and learned the chords for “Different for Girls” (Joe Jackson – not specially difficult to play badly) So I might go tomorrow.

Its even too tricky on the roads to go and get a Christmas tree – the knipemobile is stuck in the garage as it happens and the police have announced that shopping for Christmas trees is not Essential Travel. Its true, it were on the news.

Superdawg’s new antlers will similarly have to wait for a pause in the storm.

But here’s a short film starring Superdawg.  He’s having a bark, obviously.

Bugger it – you’ll just have to make do with a picture.

Here’s Bruno balancing on one of the knipetowers’ snowdrifts. The video is marginally more interesting.