A Snowy Mooch…

My face must have been a picture as I gawped out of the kitchen window whilst waiting for the kettle to boil in anticipation of the first brew of the day.  

“It’s snowing.” I declared to Malcolm (the cat), who was just sat by his bowl waiting to be fed.

“Right then,” I said to him, “I’d better get some kit together and go for a mooch before it disappears!”

Rushing to get ready I had that tingling feeling, you know the one when you’re getting excited.  It went away a little bit as I heard the local traffic reporter declaring congestion here, closed roads there…  not what I wanted to hear.

It’s frustrating when you’re stuck in stationary traffic and you can only go as fast as the 2wd in front.  Thankfully, as I ventured forth it had transpired that the majority of my fellow Boltonians had heeded the warnings and stayed indoors as the roads leading up to my favourite green lane (only green lane!), were relatively void of traffic.

On reaching the lane the snow became deeper, there was evidence of other intrepid adventurers who had been before me, but the thick snowflakes had already begun to cover their tracks.

As I locked Deux Smurf's centre diff I suddenly remembered that the General Grabbers tyres, although perfectly road legal were becoming less useful for off road work.  But it was fine, I wasn’t attempting any steep hill climbs, the lane simply meanders over the moors and can be driven in 20 minutes.

As I reached the first gate, it became evident by the virgin snow that I was the first person to attempt this section of the lane, though at this point it was only around 8" deep.

Although the view ahead was clear for some distance, I would liked to have written at this point that the view over the moors was spectacular, but alas it wasn't, it was white with a hint of grey for as far as the eye could see.  

Then, in the distance I noticed a familiar shape trundling towards me, it was a Freelander.  As we drove past each other we wound down our windows and exchanged pleasantries, not for long mind, it was cold.

By the time I'd reached the end of the lane it had stopped snowing and began to rain, so I quickly turned around and retraced my tyre tracks and enjoyed the solitude of a white green-lane once more.

Sadly the rain continued for the rest of the day, and just as quickly as it had arrived, the snow had turned to mush and disappeared for another year.