Beacon Hill Monument

Another slow start, but it's always good to put some extra sleep hours into the bank.
More accounts this morning and then a lovely lunch. Slowly the sky turned blue and tempted us to head up onto the Scar with Missy.
Arriving it was stupidly busy with what were obviously mixing groups. We took an obtuse angle away from the crowds. But. Within a couple of hundred meters we were hit by a freezing wintery blast and stinging snow arrived. I spent a while helping a young fella pack away his new paraglider and explain why here isn't as placid and safe a place to practice as it seems, I pointed him in the direction of better, safer sites.
Whist we were doing so the snow spluttered to a halt and the blue sky came back. As the young man drove off we realised we were now nearly alone and had the place mostly to ourselves (we recognised the other two dog walkers we saw as local). So we continued on our loop of the tops, Missy loving how well her ball bounces on the hard frozen ground (extra).
Home and accounts finished and sent off. Too disheartening to look at this year.

* This Monument was built by a local sculptor (John Bland, still a very common name locally) to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. But it also stands on the spot of an ancient beacon, historically lit to warn of marauders. The hill in sunlight in the centre ground is The Knott (whereupon my lonely larch leans) and is also where the Castlefolds Romano-British settlement is. This was used well into medieval times, I wonder how often the Beacon was lit in warning?