Wednesday the 28th of February saw much of the country copping lots of lovely snow - even our neighbours up there in Devon awoke to a goodly covering. Here though, at Bimble Towers, not a blizzard, not a drift, not even a single flake was to be seen. As usual it was looking like I was going to be disappointed, as... and I may have mentioned this in the past, I like a bit of snow.
Wednesday was also the day I was expecting my weekly shopping to be delivered. Now when booking my slot I'd hummed and harred for ages, consulted many differing weather forecasts as some were saying I'd be getting snow in the morning, others suggested not. In the end I opted for an afternoon slot, thinking that I could get out and have a ride in the morning and be home in time to take delivery of my week's grub. Well I needn't have bothered worrying, as like I say, round here there was nothing, just a little light rain in the air. Meanwhile, a little wandering around the local news sites on the internet found tales of snow all over Cornwall. It wasn't the county that was missing out, it was just me, in this village! Oh bums!
Then, at about 2pm... it happened - it started snowing! Whoop! I decided to make the most of the mini blizzard by whizzing Fatso out into the back garden for a quick photo...
Check it out! That's... That's almost a blizzard... sort of... Now we're talking! Then we weren't, as it stopped again, and what you see above, is what we had.
As fast as the snow arrived and fell, so it stopped again, and once again I was disappointed. Then I got a phone call from a very nice and apologetic lady to tell me my shopping delivery had been cancelled as the weather was worsening considerably, the main A30 was blocked by accidents, and they feared their vans would get stuck in the snow. Double bummer!
Not to worry though, I knew that I could go and buy some panic in the local shop. I'd heard the local supermarkets had been inundated with people panic buying, and assumed my local shop would be ok, but apparently they sold out of panic too, so I'd have to go breadless for a day or two as typically, the one time getting shopping would prove difficult was the one time I'd actually run out of a staple already.
That was it weather wise too - no more snow for me here, while all around was descending into chaos. Pfft! Grumpily I wheeled Fatso back into his lair and faced up to another evening of not eating much in case the weather came good the following day, and I wanted to get out for a ride. It would save food too, what with me not having had my delivery and all - who knew when I'd be able to get some groceries in again if all around was in turmoil?
So that was a Wednesday, but hope remained, as Thursday was due to be the really big day. The day when the Beast from the East - the wickedly cold weather system would bump into Storm Emma coming in off the Atlantic, the poop was about to really hit the fan... With a bit of luck!
Thursday morning I awoke and it was snowing! Not a lot... just a bit... Bummer. But things had moved on apace overnight, and logging onto the net I found this
Wooo... Red Warning eh? What did that mean then? Well, red means risk to life, which sounded a tad ominous. I checked the forecasts gleefully and discovered the usual variations from one site to another, but all seemed agreed on one thing - that we here in my village would cop some snow at some point later in the day, if only for an hour or two, before turning possibly to freezing rain.
Things were looking hopeful, but in the meantime, just in case it all came to nothing, I headed out, with all batteries charged up, to see what we'd already had in the way of snowfall.
Nipping outside to feed the birds while the kettle was boiling I discovered just how cold it was out, so I decided to finally test out some foot warmers I'd bought a while back for just such an occasion...
Well this was Thursday morning in the village and as you can see, we didn't have much to boast about weather wise.
Up the lane that leads towards the church...
Still on the lane up to the church and we weren't getting our money's worth out of the weather for sure.
Seen heavier frosts...
Now here's a rare thing, a full on selfie. My first full facial selfie ever, I believe. This was on Tregassow Lane and as can be almost seen, despite it being exposed along there, there wasn't much going on snow wise there either. But it was windy. The forecast estimated a temperature of -2 degrees, but with the East - North Easterly at 18mph but gusting to 31 mph, it would feel like -9 degrees. Whatever, that wind was very unpleasant. But... apart from my manly face, I was warm as toast. I was of course wearing all sorts of layers, but also a couple of cold weather only affairs. Most notably in the shape of that hat.
My hat buying philosophy is simple - buy a tight one - look a right one. But in my drawer of unusual Christmas presents filed away for the day when they might prove useful lurked this fleecy lined jobbie with drop down ear guards and a velcro fastening below the chin to stop the wind whipping it away. It was luurrvvely....
I'd also donned my old and rather scruffy anorak thing, which is also lovely and warm. It is a loose fitting thing, with multiple (also loosely constructed) layers in its make up. The upshot is that it is the warmest jacket I've ever had. I rarely use it on the bike as I tend to boil, but on this day my cycling jacket just wouldn't cut the mustard.
Gloves. Under my winter gloves I thought I'd try some disposable rubber jobbies in the hope they'd block any wind out or trap warm air in or whatever, as my hands usually sweat rather well when wearing them. It worked a treat too, as my hands stayed perfectly warm, even my thumbs, throughout, and with little loss of feel compared to normal.
My feet? Well I've heard tales of people having seriously hot feet with those sticky pads, tales of taking smoke filled shoes off and minor sock blazes and so on. Well my feet certainly weren't hot, but neither were they at all cold, so I can only assume those pads were working very nicely.
On my legs I had long johns, my riding trousers and water proof over trousers as well, so safe to say, I was pretty well covered, apart from my face that is. My beard is only a Tog Rating One - summer use only, so my considerable nose, cheeks and chin were all suffering, but I'm not into the Post Office Robber look so don't pull my scarf over my face unless I really have to (hail showers usually...)
That must be the longest caption for a photo ever...
So anyway, after a brief ride around the village I returned home for a coffee, to recharge the GoPro battery (what the hell? It was full when I left and now was on empty. The cold really does knacker batteries though, and it is in need of replacement soon anyway. Even so...) and to see what would develop. Well the post didn't develop, as I received an email telling me my parcel delivery (new brake pads for Fatso) that I was expecting mid morning, was cancelled due to the bad weather. So once again, all around were faring much worse than where I was - the post coming from Truro just four miles away, where the tracking showed it was ready for delivery.
Sure enough though, things were starting to look good at around 1pm. Looking on weather radar showed a big lump of something suspicious heading right in towards me, but also the threat that it could turn to freezing rain. Freezing Rain is possibly the worst weather for being out in, along with Freezing Fog, so I didn't want to get caught in that should it happen.
But with snow now falling nicely, I thought to myself - I'm going out now, I may be some time.
The falling snow doesn't always show up in these photos, but things were looking up as I headed down towards Trevella Stream. It was right here, back in 2014, on this bit of the hill, that I came a cropper on the old clatterbus Carrera and ended up Break Dancing in the road after hitting a patch of ice lurking in the light snowfall we'd had back then.
No risk of crashage on this trip so far though, as all the white stuff was fine and powdery, and you can see some of it getting blown across the road just ahead of Fatso's front wheel here.
As can be seen, given the forecast for a potential blizzard, I'd fitted lights, in the case of the front, a 'be seen' light.
Trevella Stream with light snow blowing around, but nothing too dramatic. The main thing was that either the wind had dropped, shifted direction, warmed up a bit or I'd just acclimatised myself to it, but I didn't notice it at all, unlike a couple of hours earlier, so was happy to press on.
Four Turnings and that's the sun just visible in the sky.
Turning round found this view, and a large snowflake hitting the GoPro at 2 o'clock. I could have cloned it out in post, but can't be bothered with things like that sometimes!
It was all looking, and feeling, a tad bleak up on that hill top I must admit, but it was still great being out and about with a sense of expectation in the air, something was happening... hopefully.
A quick plummet down from Four Turnings to...
... Five Turnings junction. The snow was starting to get a good bit thicker now and excitement was building...
Not enough snow for a snowman, but enough for someone to have made a snow... erm... dog? A Chihuahua perhaps...
Looking from Five Turnings down the hill towards Trevella Stream (not the way I'd come by the way) and it's looking good.
No issues with grip at all, there were no signs of any ice and the snow wasn't deep enough to get compacted and then polished by traffic.
Standing around at Five Turnings I experienced once again the silencing qualities of a sky full of snow. It really was utterly quiet, apart from the wind blowing that is, and the light tickling sound of the tiny, dry, snowflakes landing on my jacket or sexy hat. The 'feels like' temperature for this time had been given as -11 degrees with an air temperature of -4, but I was feeling tickety boo and full of beans (not literally though, I'd not eaten at all yet).
Even though the weather where I was wasn't bad, the lanes were quieter than they usually are - no one was about, either heeding the dire warnings not to go out, or already stuck some where else.
As I said earlier, this band of snow had carried the threat of turning to Freezing Rain, so rather than head further away from home from Five Turnings, I opted to stay on my usual local loop and head homewards. Meanwhile, the snow was starting to settle a bit more across the roads.
At Killiserth I thought it time for a ride past selfie...
I set up the tripod and used both the G1X compact (not weather sealed so a bit of a risk), and the GoPro for the job and to be honest, preferred this shot from the GoPro.
I am a scruffy Herbert though...
The big tyre tracks in these photos came courtesy of a Scania truck that had been dropping off straw bales at Pengelly farm. It was a drawbar outfit too, not common round here, with a steering axle on the front of the trailer. Great for going forwards in the lanes as the trailer follows the front half/unit directly instead of cutting the corners as an artic does. Going backwards though... well that is a whole new kettle of fish apparently. Wish I'd got a photo of it now...
On again through the woods at Killiserth...
... but only for a few yards before stopping again to snap away at some trees.
From Killiserth it's a left turn onto the old main road back towards my home village, but again, I didn't get far before I was hauling on Fatso's brakes (Hoping the old and knackered pads will last the day... flipping post office!) for another woodland shot...
This is a privately owned wood (aren't they all!) beside the old main road, and very photogenic some parts of it look too, including this long ago downed tree. But... getting photos ain't easy at all. There is a huge, deep and wide ditch beside the road, usually full of stagnant and foul smelling water. On this day, it was iced over and covered with snow, but I doubt the ice was strong enough to prevent a carelessly aimed foot bursting through and me going well above the ankle in freezing water. There is also a Cornish Hedge beyond the ditch, so like I say, getting clear photos, without going over the entrance gate and blatantly trespassing, is difficult. But in the snow I had to to at least try and get something, so foolishly bravely jumped the ditch and scrambled up on top of the Cornish Hedge and this shot above was what I got. It's still obstructed by that darned juvenile tree/sapling in the middle foreground which ruins the view of the fallen tree, but it was the best I could do at the time.
While I was up atop the hedge, a cyclist came flying past going like the clappers on a hybrid. Narrow tyres no drawback in the conditions obviously.
Back aboard Fatso and heading towards Trispen on the old main road.
Entering the village...
The road through the middle of Trispen. Hardly any motor traffic through here either.
Now, some time ago, when I was reading some article or other about getting motivated to go out ofr a ride, someone said 'always go out - you never know what might happen or what you might see! Well, that advice was about to be going through my head as I thanked my lucky stars for having gone out when I did...
There I was, just accelerating down Trispen Hill out of the village enjoying the extra plummet that gravity affords on such occasions when I caught a glimpse - a flash, of a familiar colour out of the corner of my eye. I threw on Fatso's brakes once more (those pads must be hooperchooped by now...) and went back. Sure enough, there in the side of the road and just starting to get covered in snow was a crispy tenner. Then I spotted another, and a third one! Thirty quid just lying there! I looked around but there was no one walking to be seen who may have dropped the money. Had there been I'd have gone and asked them if they had dropped anything and to check their pockets as it's a chunk of money for some poor sod to lose. But there was no one to be seen. So, I pocketed the plunder rather guiltily, but finders keeps and all that. The money will come in handy as I've been doing over £20 a week on the electricity just doing the usual stuff plus heating my bedroom up for an hour before bed. I don't even bother with the single heater downstairs as it's useless, so am sitting in a woolly hat and multiple layers as I type this. Winter always sees me feeding pounds aplenty into the electricity key meter here.
I did deploy the GoPro on the lane up to the church once again, to get comparison shots with those I took earlier that morning, but didn't check the lens was clear of wetness first and all the shots were utterly obscured by water drops... Doh!
Anyway, this here is St Hermes Church in St Erme.
After the church it was back home to recharge the Gopro (again!) and to treat myself to a tomato cup a soup. I still wasn't going to eat (it makes things complicated) as it was still snowing nicely and I was optimistic that I may not be done with riding yet.
So, I set about downloading the photos I'd taken, charging batteries, drinking cup a soup and whatnot, and occupied myself nicely for a while until something caught my attention and I looked outside - it was snowing really heavily and settling well. I donned all my gear once more, looked at Fatso and said - "Fatso - your weather has just arrived" and prepared to head out for a third time that day. By preparing I mean exchanging the 'be seen' front light for 'seeing where the hell you're going' front lights, as by now, it was nearly five pm and darkness wasn't far away, and I also dropped the tyre pressures a bit.
Just heading away from the house I knew right away this going to be huge fun!
Woohoo! We've not had snow on the ground like this here since 2010, and ever since I got the Fatbike I've been itching to get it out in some snow, so I wasn't going to miss this for anything.
Once again, I was wary of this threat of Freezing Rain, and with it the increased winds too, so I opted not to stray too far from home but to stay around the village just in case.
First up though was a look along Tregassow Lane. The lane was officially closed, but t'was nothing to do with the weather, there's work being done on the surface somewhere along it, I've yet to discover where exactly.
Blatting along a rather Siberianesque looking Tregassow Lane.
It was actually getting dark when I took these next few photos so had to so some intensive surgery in post processing to lighten them up a bit.
Tregassow Lane photostop.
And a bit further along. This is as far as I went, and I regret not going the full loop now, but there we go.
There were several people, and a dog, trudging along the lane, but otherwise all was deathly quiet.
So much fun! To be fair, the snow wasn't that deep that a Fatbike had much of an advantage over a 'normal' bike, or indeed a mountain bike, but it was still massive fun hacking through the snow as fast as I could go and whilst wearing the biggest grin I've had in years!
Back at the St Erme end of Tregassow Lane again (that hedge line on the right leading up the clump of trees). Getting dark now so silly high ISO deployed on the camera and some heavy lifting in post processing.
Back into the village I went, and a shot taken more or less in the same spot as the first one of the day that morning. It's a good covering but still not deep, but it'll do for me!
Outside the retail centre of downtown Trispen (the village shop).
Out of the village I headed West and onto the Bridleway that used to be the old A39 that heads towards Truro. For six thirty pm on a weekday evening, the A39 was very quiet indeed. By now though, my lack of food was starting to be felt, my head was aching and my stomach growling! So I turned around and had another light gravity hoon down the Bridleway again.
The last half way decent photo of the day, and the milestone on the old A39.
I had another ride up through the village but was caught in two minds at to what to do. Half of me was all for going off somewhere down the lanes and carrying on enjoying myself (I really was having a hoot of a time) while the other half was telling me it was gone seven pm, I was knackered and had a walloping head ache, and the snow might turn to rain at any moment. So reluctantly I headed home for some dinner, and after a couple of hours, it started raining, so I made the right call probably.
But what a brilliant day I'd had! It started off a bit so-so, and just got better - the snow got better, I stopped feeling the cold on my face, I found thirty quid and had some of the most fun I've had on a push bike since I was a kid! I'm also very grateful I was feeling fit enough to ride as had my back been bad, or the other usual suspects been playing me up, well I would've missed out big time.
It wasn't just about me dicking about on the bike though, it was the atmosphere that evening that really struck me - the only sound to be heard in the village was children laughing and dogs barking excitedly. There was a very happy feel in the air as families were out everywhere walking their dogs and offspring, kids were tobogganing and pelting each other with snowballs (and not me either - I didn't get snowballed once!) and it all felt a bit of a special occasion really. All very uplifting and invigorating.
That night though - Thursday into Friday, how any above ground living creature could survive I don't know. A real gale blew up and Freezing Rain pelted my windows all night long. It took ages to get to sleep, and then I was woken again a couple of times by the sheer noise of the storm outside. It must've been hell out there. All I could think of was how the hell do all the birds survive in that?
Come the morning and a lot of the snow had gone, as had the ice from the rain as a thaw was already underway and things were rather depressingly getting back to normal.
Meanwhile on the news, things had got really bad up country with lots of tales of woe to be heard including this...
There you are, stranded for hours in your car when someone comes along handing out Gregg's Pasties - as if those poor people hadn't suffered enough!
No, that's wrong, that's a cheap shot in the name of making a joke. The Greggs driver was typical of the spirit that can flourish in such conditions, unloading his wagon as he did and handing out the contents to the stranded drivers. Not everyone was so lucky as to be stuck near a baker's van, and even now, on Sunday evening, things are far from back to normal as people and transport try and get themselves sorted out and back to something resembling normal. Meanwhile The snow has moved North I gather and has been clobbering Scotland, but they're used to it up there, they probably won't even notice it!
So now I've got my shopping due in the morning (I've survived as it happens without bread and not going panic buying, unlike some folk who seem to think a day or two of snow means the world is about to end) but how much of what I've ordered will be delivered remains to be seen as all this will have thrown the supply chains into complete chaos.
Anyway, that was my 'Snowday', a great day, and one I'll remember for a long time for the sheer fun of bozzing about on a bike and generally acting like a ten year old again!
I hope all who read this (especially the Cardiff contingent - evening Dave!) have survived ok and have been able to enjoy the fun in some way also.
I can't wait until next winter now... !
----------------
No comments:
Post a Comment