Floods and Mud

The weather's been so warm lately we've been sleeping with our bedroom window wide open - pleasant for us but a disaster for those up north, including a friend from university days who's been flooded out of his home, and Son the Younger's girlfriend, stuck in her village for a couple of days without electricity.  On my annual Leeds-and-back-in-one-day round trip yesterday, I took wellies in case, not least because we had to collect Kitten Nini and older step-brother Monstertruck from their Christmas lodgings in Kirkstall and take them back across the flooded River Aire to their home with Daughter the Elder. 

In the event, the only flooding we saw was on the River Avon (Shakespeare's) where it passes under the M5 near Pershore in Worcestershire.  

In Leeds the canal we crossed was full but contained, and Kirkstall Road was passable though sodden-looking.  The businesses lining the street were in darkness.  

This afternoon, back in Bristol, we went for a walk on Kingsweston Down, a ridge of limestone grassland that runs south west from Blaise Castle estate.  

The iron-age hill-fort

Unseasonal signs included daisies ...

... and there was also lots and lots of mud.  Ted's element, it would appear. 

 

  

You can walk along the ridge all the way to Avonmouth, but we were a bit tardy getting out so only got as far as the telly transmitter before it started getting dusky.  A pair of ravens passed overhead, cronking companionably.

It was lovely.