Tree Breath

It's been a gloriously clear day here. An almost perfect winter's day indeed. Crystalline cold blue skies with almost unbroken sunshine. I could easily have procrastinated over which shot to blip, like I did yesterday, but this tree appealed to me as soon as I saw it and I've decided to not even look at my other pictures. I could easily be messing around all evening and I want to look at some other journals for a few hours once I've posted this.

I set off at 8.30am with the cycling club, joining the B group for a steady ride out to Arncliffe, at which point they turned for home and I carried on up Littondale to Halton Gill and then over the tops to Malham and back via Airton, Winterburn, Hetton and Embsay. I think that's about 63 miles and I was pleased to find myself reasonably strong throughout and it was only in the last few miles that my legs started to wobble a bit.

There were a few heart in the mouth moments when I ran into some very extensive patches of ice on the top road. It was a question of holding your nerve and just keeping a straight line. As long as you don't try to brake or wobble then there is no problem. And I was fine. The only issue was keeping my fingers and toes warm. The air temperature must have been below freezing for the first hour but it did gradually warm up and by the time I got home my hands were actually sweating inside my mittens.

So to return to this picture. It's a good journal shot in that it captures the feel of the day. I fell in love with that wispy cloud, which looks like condensation forming from the breath of the tree. I hope it conveys a sense of the cold. I've broken the "rule of thirds" with the composition. I kind of feel in a rule-breaking frame of mind!