Time for a walkies.

With another cold day ahead, it was stew time. I made us a sausage stew with lots of vegetables, butter beans and dumplings, which was to spend the day cooking in the back cabin stove. With very little planned for the day, I ventured out before lunch to visit the village shop to get a TV paper and a few bits. The village shop has been a godsend to many who cannot travel far for their food supplies, and there were gaps on the shelves. Back on the boat I made us some soup for lunch, which was eaten with bread rolls and homemade Lemon Drizzle cake.

Now I think I have said before that when we are stationary for any length of time I get cabin fear, so going out for walks always clears my head. Keith suggested we head out for a walk with our cameras, so we put on our winter gear and set off up to the Welford Reservoir to see if there were any waterfowl to be seen.

The top reservoir was actually frozen over.

No waterfowl to be seen.

Footprints in the snow.

Keith getting ready to take a photograph.

We made a new friend and his name is Wilson and he is 7 months old, he would have been quite happy to follow us.

Geese foraging for food in a farmers field.

These sheep were having to dig for the grass. At least they were warm with their woollen coats on.

We really had a wonderful walk, it was good to clear the head and to just enjoy the rugged beauty at this time of year. As we walked back towards the boat, snow began to fall again and by the time we climbed down into the back cabin it was beginning to come down quite hard.

The forecast is for heavy snow again on Friday, but thawing over the weekend, so joy of joy we can then expect flooding.

On my Canal Flora and Fauna blog there are some photographs of our local Kingfisher who I sat and watched fishing even with the snow falling. It did catch a couple of fish, so can sleep knowing its tummy is full.