The Cove

A fairly spectacular sun rise this morning, with the flooded fields frosty and in places frozen over, and quite a bit of colour in the sky. The photo doesn't do it justice. (It was taken through a window before hastily setting off on a slightly dicey drive to work.)

An unexpected bonus tonight of not only a walk, but a little bit of daylight for the walk too.

I was out yesterday evening for a half an hour jaunt in the rain and the dark with nipper number three having a nap in the pushchair. I was drenched by the end, but bizarrely I enjoyed it.

Today Sam was in the front carrier which gave me greater scope in my choice of route. I went down to the Cove. The photos give a pretty fair idea of how it looked - grey sky, grey water, grey mud, grey shingle. Grey. (The blue in the final picture is entirely an invention of the camera)

The river here is the Kent, rising on the slopes of High Street, flowing through Kentmere and Kendal and out into Morecambe Bay. Not so long ago there was an extensive grassy foreshore, but the Kent channel moves across the estuary on a cycle and at the moment it is right over on this side. As the foreshore eroded away it revealed a series of very tall posts - you can just about make one out in the right hand picture. It also uncovered a Victorian tip with lots of shards of pottery and bits of old bottles.






There was some colour to see because the cliff-top path here has a rich ruddy mud. In fact, there is a a sort of gully cut back into the cliff where the limestone is very red. This is apparently a Heamatite mine (an iron ore used as a dye I think) dating back to Roman times.

Later, walking through the village up Stankelt Road, I heard an owl calling, seemingly quite close by. The calls got louder and then there it was ghosting along the treetops in Clark's Lot.

By the time I got home it was dark and Sam had woken from his nap.