Mists flowing between Bagpath and Montserrat

I saw swirling mists when I looked out of the bedroom window early this morning. I then moved to the room where I work from and spotted a trail of mist running along the side of the Golden Valley in the area from Bagpath to Montserrat.

I grabbed my camera and hoped that the rising sun's rays would clear the top of the mists on our side of the valley and illuminate the scene, but I waited in vain. So I took a few pictures knowing the weather forecast for the day ahead was poor and hoped for the best. I was right as now many hours later the whole sky is grey and gloomy.

What is interesting to me is that the line of the swirling mist here runs along the valley side at about the height of the spring line, above which the ancient road was built to link the houses. The dwellings were built there to get access to the fresh water which spilled out of the limestone at its junction with clay strata beneath. These old roads halfway up the valley sides were the only way that wheeled transport could be maintained along the valleys, as the valley bottoms were always very muddy and difficult to navigate. There is a parallel single track road on the opposite side of the valley too, also marking the spring line. The woodland above that line also delineates the area of harder limestone and marks the steeper slopes where the land is less easily farmed, and used as grazing mostly. You can see some cows in one of the fields. The slightly lower line of the road in certain areas shows where there has been land slippage, which is quite common in these parts with so much clay in evidence.