Strumble Head

A sunny, dry afternoon, although still very cold. But it was too good an opportunity to pass up, and besides I had been doing householdy stuff for the last three days (clearing paths and general dogsbody things), so off I went.

I didn't go far - just up to Strumble Head lighthouse. It's 20 miles or so, but North Pembrokeshire has very few direct A-to-B type roads, so the journey was all minor roads and lanes, most with a nice strip of grass up the middle, and a side-helping of dried mud. It's ideal XT country.



I should have wrapped up warm, but I chanced it in jeans and a leather jacket, and I was frozen before I was half-way there. But it was well worth it: quiet roads, sunshine and a day with some stunning views.



Strumble Head lighthouse, with the Atlantic beyond and the XT before.

Cold, in both senses

My mansniffles are no better, so I have taken another day off work. Don't worry - I won't be getting paid for it, so there is no dishonesty there.

Anyone who has visited Pembrokeshire will know that the climate is normally mild and wet. We rarely see snow in winter, and if it falls, it is usually gone by the next day. I ws brought up in the Frozen North (West Yorkshire) and lived for a long time in the Frozen East (East Yorkshire and Lincs), and a winter without snow and a few good frosty days doesn't seem to punctuate the passing of the year like a 'proper' winter does.

I had to set off early last Monday to be in Swansea for 8.30 am, and at 6.30 am when I emerged from the house to chip the car out of the ice-floe, the temperature read -7°C. I thought that was bloody cold for round here. Today, I came out at 9.00 am to take Anna to her physiotherapy, and the car thermometer read -11°C. That is astonishingly cold for round here. Even at 11.00 am, when we returned, and after a lot of warmish sunshine (the sky is clear and lovely) it was still -8°C. Because the atmosphere is dry, it doesn't feel all that cold, but touch something that has been outside all night and you stick to it.

I have taken pity on the poor Honda and put its battery on to charge. I'm not likely to be taking it out any time soon (it is far too big and heavy to be useable in these conditions), but the computer makes a tiny drain on the battery, and it's better to keep it charged in cold weather than to let it go down. It's a gel battery, only a year old, and cost me about £90, so I'm looking after it. The XT sits outside the front door looking forlorn and covered in ice. I shall go out and start it up in a minute, just to let it know it's not forgotten.

Anthropomorphism rules.