Offas Dyke Path

It was another lovely day weather wise today and they've been few and far between lately!  As it was my day off, I took Holly for a good walk down the Offas Dyke Path near where I live in North Wales.  The Offas Dyke Path is a long distance footpath which roughly follows the 8th century Offas Dyke which originally formed the boundary between England and Wales.  The views were fabulous today over the Vale of Clwyd and over to the snow covered mountain tops of Snowdonia. It was so good to be out.

Holly always finds a stick to carry, the bigger the better

Lovely to look over to the snow covered tops in Snowdonia

A crisp winter's day, frost still on the bench and underfuot making that lovely crunchy sound when you walk!

Looking over the Vale Clwyd, this view is constantly to the left of you when you walk down this lovely ridge

Moel Arthur on the right Penycloddiau on the left - both iron age hill forts

Dropping down into the valley near Cilcain

Back up towards Moel Famau looking down into the valley 

Oh and on another positive note I happened to weigh myself yesterday and it appears I've lost 5lb!

A wonderful walk

A quick blog post today as I've been out walking in Snowdonia all day and am ready for a good sleep now!  We decided on relatively low level walk from Capel Curig to Llyn Crafnant and Llyn Geirionydd (two beautiful lakes). Despite getting rather wet in a sudden heavy hail shower, we soon dried off and on the way back went to the summit of Crimpiau which rewarded us with fabulous views into the Ogwen Valley, back down to Llyn Crafnant and to the Snowdon Horseshoe.  This was the highlight of the day for me and one of those 'wow' moments you often get when walking in such beautiful landscapes.  Hope you enjoy the pics - the first three are all views from the summit of Crimpiau facing in different directions and the last one is of the lovely Llyn Crafnant - we sat at the lakeside here for our lunch

the view from the summit of Crimpiau 

Snow in Snowdonia

As I have a bird feeding station in the garden I make sure the feeders are regularly cleaned as wild birds are susceptible to a range of diseases which can be caught from contaminated feeding areas.  The area does get very messy with dropped seed under the feeders which can quickly become mouldy if left.  So this was one of my jobs for today amongst other cleaning jobs!

The feeding station in my garden

Hygiene advice for bird feeders

When I finished it was off to Loggerheads with Holly for a walk and a swim in the river (for Holly not me!)

Gary and I have just packed our rucksacks as we are off to Snowdonia for a hopefully big walk tomorrow. As we were passing through yesterday we could see the snow on the mountains and more was forecast today so there should be plenty around tomorrow.

The weather is looking a bit hit and miss so we probably won't go up too high but I'm really looking forward to a good walk whatever the weather! The photo below was taken in November when the first snow of the year fell on the mountains - it is taken on the top of Moel Siabod

Snowbuntings and Snowdonia

Gary and I are off work on a Friday and today we headed to Snowdonia as Gary was due to give a presentation of his photographs and my artwork to the Snowdonia Society this evening.  We first drove to Kinmel Bay as there are sometimes Snow Buntings seen here in winter months and we had been told that one has been spotted there over the past few days.... so, as we were passing on the way to Snowdonia, we decided to have a walk along the beach in the hope of spotting it. There was another photographer there when we arrived who said it had been seen further along the beach so he and Gary headed that way while I headed in the opposite direction to take Holly for a walk and a swim in the sea.  Within a few minutes I spotted the Snow Bunting within a few feet of me - it was completely unperturbed by Holly and I and just carried on foraging for seeds amongst the pebbles on the beach, then hopped onto an old tree that was lying on the beach and sat there posing beautifully.  I tried to ring Gary to let him know I'd found it but it went straight to answer phone, so I tried to signal to them by waving my arms, hoping they would see me, which they did.  The bird was still sitting on the tree trunk when Gary got to me and he got some lovely photographs over the next 45 minutes or so as it continued to forage amongst the pebbles and it was still there when we left.  I popped back to the car during this time to get my camera in the hope of getting a few photographs myself.

A really stunning little bird

The talk that Gary gave this evening ended up being held in the Memorial Hall in Betws y Coed rather than the Ugly House as there had been some flood damage there after the heavy rain over the last few weeks which was a shame as we love this little place.  We will be back though as we have been invited to an event there later this month when the damage will hopefully have been repaired.  The talk went really well and we both had some lovely comments made to us about what we do -  one gentleman in particular came to tell me he was inspired by my wildlife journal, had been thinking about picking up a brush again after doing art up to A level and that I'd inspired him to paint again ... and to paint birds and wildlife - I really hope he does!

When it rains look for rainbows, when it's dark look for stars

Today I saw a beautiful rainbow as I was driving along. I travelled round a bend and there it was looming up ahead arching either side of the car as bright as can be.  By the time I had pulled over safely to take a photo most of it had faded and there were just the ends still showing.

Doesn't look much in the photo I know!

Then this evening after work and before tea, we went on a run - I didn't really want to go as I was sooo tired but I made myself go and as I was jogging along thinking how tired my legs were I noticed that the clouds had cleared and the stars were out and suddenly my legs didn't seem so tired anymore!

Tomorrow is a day off for Gary and I and we are planning a day in Snowdonia as he has been asked to give a presentation to the Snowdonia Society at a place called the Ugly House talking about his passion for the landscape and wildlife of Snowdonia through his photography and my artwork.  More about that tomorrow hopefully!  In the meantime here is a painting I did 2 years ago of the Ugly House (or Ty Hyll as it's known in Welsh)

Jenny Wren and an after work walk

After a post work walk and making a pasta for tea, I  spent some time painting for the wildlife journal I'm putting together, with my latest subject being the gorgeous little wren.  Wrens are the UKs commonest breeding bird and one of the smallest.  They are beautiful little birds and have bundles of character with their lovely little 'sticky up' tails and they have the most amazing song for such a small bird.  I've just got one more wren study to add to this diary page and it's done.

Wren studies

Finishing work earlier than usual today meant I could get a decent walk in with Holly before it went too dark

Moel Dywyll in the distance where I'm heading for

I  love this spot on Moel Dywyll looking back towards Moel Famau and spent a few minutes here just gathering my thoughts

Misty on the summit as it was getting darker

It's a dog's life!

It was back to work after the Christmas break today which means no daytime walking during work days until the days start getting longer. I enjoyed going for a run after work with Holly, my black labrador - doing more running is part of my fitness plan for a challenge I've set myself later this year with Gary .  I've recently bought a lead for her which attaches to my waist so she can run alongside me and it keeps my hands free - it's brilliant!  I am sure anyone who has a dog will agree that they really enrich your life - she is my constant companion when out and about and if I'm ever feeling low as we all do sometimes, just taking her for a walk and watching her so happy just to be outside running around, chasing a ball, fetching a stick, having a swim - enjoying the simple things in life -  it never fails to put a smile on my face.  Oh to be a dog! I hope the following photos of her enjoying her walks make you smile too

Holly is a typical black labrador and loves nothing more than diving into water and having a swim - this is on a walk in Snowdonia in gorgeous weather and we just sat in this spot for about an hour taking it all in while Holly spent the entire time jumping in and out of this pool and swimming around

The above photo has been featured in Snowdonia Mountains and Coast  2016 brochre 

 she's on page 5!

On the way up Snowdon she found a stick

Another walk in the Lake District  and another pool of water to jump into 

Moel Famau our local walking area

Moel Gyw on the Clwydian range

Being out in our beautiful landscape with a dog is one of the best and most simple things in life