Forest and Town, leaves and blossom

We drove down to Sundsvall this morning and while Jan was busy I took a wander on the North Mountain (which is actually a hill) just outside town. It's a combination nature reserve and recreational area with lots of footpaths and a mixture of forest types. Walking through the trees with the sun shining it felt warm and very spring-like. The thin coating of snow in all the shady places showed it was chillier yesterday, and not hugely warm today either!
In the extra you can see a picture of the first birch leaves unfolding. They are delicate and tiny but beautifully shaped and a gorgeous green. (They taste good too.) Seeing them appearing is a promise of summer to come.
Once Jan was done we drove down to Timrå. This is a town between Sundsvall and Härnösand and usually we just whiz by on the big road. From that vantage point Timrå seems to be mostly rather ugly blocks of flats. But today we decided to see if we could find some lunch in Timrå. We found "Tik's Thaimat", which looked very unprepossessing with a rather dark interior but the food turned out to be excellent and plentiful. We shall certainly go there again.
Also in Timrå were some lovely colourful cherry trees covered in pink blossom, providing the subject of my blip today.
Actually Timrå turned out to be quite a nice place. There was a nice atmosphere, slightly rough and ready. Yes, there were a lot of flats but they provided a lot of homes for people and there were some nice places to walk close by...
After lunch (also breakfast for me) we walked along the coast out of Timrå headed north. The walk wasn't exactly beautiful but it had some interesting spots. A huge manor house, a rather Teutonic brick church, a boat club, a disused railway, and finally a peninsula filled with post-industrial large shabby buildings that looked a good place to film a zombie movie. The vibe of that area wasn't helped by signs telling you to keep out - This area is a harbour and according to the defense of the realm act ...blah blah blah.  When you are used to walking in the wild forest this sort of walk can be entertaining in a different way!
After the early start for the day, and then these walks, we were both feeling tired as we drove home. The garden work didn't get done - maybe tomorrow....