Friday 23 September 2011

A Quick Walk on a Cold Day

If we want a brisk walk on a cold day, we head straight up from the back of the house, up the steep slope that leads to the ridge called Druim na Gearr Leacainn. In August and September its slopes vividly demonstrate the battle being waged between the heather - mostly Bell and Ling - and the encroaching tide of bracken.

Not only is the heather losing the battle, it's also suffering from something else which causes, in places, a mass die-back, leaving only the whitening stalks of the dead plant.

Even on a cold day, we sometimes take a picnic lunch. On the day this picture was taken, there was a bitter northerly wind, but this rock not only acted as a windbreak, it also provided a perfect bench seat for two.

Nearby, wild ivy and ling clung to the rock face....

....while, on the way down, we found an erratic, a huge chunk of rock dropped when the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age. It was so covered in lichen we couldn't identify the type of rock, so it may have been brought in from near or far.

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