Upalong and downalong.............

.....as they say in Dorset. I managed to get out for the first walk around the lanes of this year; bit later than normal due to weather and illness restrictions, but I chose a great day for it. The weather here is glorious today - no other word for it.
First of all the lane, down off the main street into another part of the village, very quiet; the next one shows some ice still there on the dark side of the road - fantastic patterning - an old high door in a barn I pass on the home stretch; an old culvert, newly visible after the winter's clearing of the verges and ditches, and a badger run up and under the hedge - there is a matching one on the other side of the road.
























The second lot show a lovely old willow, with it's branches traced against a stunning blue sky; it's in the garden of the cottage getting its roof re-thatched, you can see the thatch waiting on the scaffolding; a view out and over the Blackmore Vale; the early morning sun squinting through an ancient hedge.




















A morning full of the optimism of spring.