Walking in the rain

Yesterday was a day off, so naturally, I forced himself out for another walk.  Forcing is probably the wrong word, since he likes walking as much as I, and he's been doing it 25 years longer than me.

We'd looked at the weather forecast, and it promised light showers on Saturday and heavy rain on Sunday, so naturally we decided to walk Saturday. Peter had had one all lined up for us, past Bolton Abbey along the River Wharfe and then up to Simon's Seat.

Well they lied about the "light" showers.  They were heavy showers, which of course started at the same time  we did.  That is, as we started to walk, it started to drizzle, and by the time we were a good couple of miles along the way, it was chucking it down.

Pair of Mandarin Ducks on River Wharfe

But as usual, I enjoyed it anyway.  I would definitely have preferred it if it hadn't rained so much, cos then I would have been able to see through dry glasses and without a big hood over me head but I did to see a male grey wagtail and a dipper in the becks as we were walking up. The rain did stop eventually, (after it had done a pretty good job of wetting us right through) and the moors steamed in the afternoon sun as we approached Simon's seat.  The view from there should be spectacular, but it was a bit misty after the rain.

Anyway, on the moor I got to see cotton grass, bilberries and grouse.  When we came down again, along the river were a grey heron, greylag geese, red legged partridges, sand martins, a goosander with her chicks and more mandarin ducks. It was all brilliant.  I'm still learning about the birds and plants as I am not very well educated on that score.  I can't wait to go out again, but it may be a little while until we are both free.