Promises, promises

Following a very blustery night the morning dawned reasonably calm, bright and sunny. I decided to return to my walk on Torlum hill from the other day when I had been able to blip layers of hills. I was hoping to see the same view only this time with blue sky in the background and snow on the hill tops! It was not to be.

By the time I reached the entrance to the walk the wind had cracked up a few notches, sending clouds scudding across the sky and reducing the fleeting glimpses of blue sky to a minimum. Furthermore the temperature had obviously risen a little during the night and much of yesterday's snow covering had disappeared.

In fact the wind was so strong that along the sides of the newly made forestry road tall pines, whose roots had been disturbed by the construction, were swaying in an alarming manner. I have been told that in a wood or forest, trees on the outer edge put down strong root systems in order to withstand anything the weather throws at them. However those further in do not need such strong roots and therefore when the outside trees do fall following extreme gales such as we have witnessed recently, or manual felling, then the trees deeper in the wood cave in very quickly having no real hold on the ground. That is exactly what was happening here where trees had been felled to construct the new road and those now exposed were very, very close to collapsing too. Sensibly the decision was made to turn round and return rather than risk finding myself knocked down by a falling pine tree.

The blue sky had all but disappeared now and black clouds were looming in from the north, bringing cold sleety rain with them. Hurrying back to the car it was then that the rainbow appeared. Softly at first but gaining in clarity until you could easily make out all the seven colours against the background of the dark sky. It formed an almost complete arc across the countryside below. If you look very closely you will be able to see a thin line of snow on the tops of the background hills where they merge into the sky.

Home now and having dried the dogs and made myself a welcome cuppa I am beginning to feel warmer. It will be interesting to see tomorrow if the heavy clouds were busy depositing a new layer of snow on the hills.