We’ve found ourselves a way of sneaking out without upsetting Archie to take Rosie for walks. Even though he can’t put one foot in front of another with enough certainty and regularity to get across the garden, it was proving too painful to take Rosie out walking and hear Archie crying because he was being left behind. You could say that we’d decided to enjoin the activity due to the clear distress it caused.

So, we’ve hit on a sneaky way of doing it without upsetting him by pretending to just go out into the garden and then sneaking through our back gate and escaping without going out of the front door with her on a lead. So far, it seems to be working and he seems happy when we arrive home and wake him up from his sleeping.

Today we’ve employed the new technique and been out and about on the moor for a couple of hours in glorious sunshine but bitter cold. This is the longest cold period I can remember for many years, if ever. Although we are used to an odd few days of sub-zero temperatures they rarely last more than a couple of days at a time, then we get slush while the ice melts and back to normal. This year, it’s been at or below zero for a relatively long time.

The good thing is that it can be very muddy on the moor at this time of year but at the moment, the ground is as hard as iron so it’s easy to walk about although there is an obvious risk of slipping on ice.

Mine workings pit the landscape so there is a lot of disturbed ground that has formed into hillocks and troughs. The troughs gather water and we have spent a lot of time today poking our toes onto ice to see how thick it is and how well it’ll bear weight. What’s interesting is that in many places there is a block of sheet ice with nothing underneath it – it seems the ice was formed then gradually the liquid water below seeped away. This came from one such place, where the ice had been smashed. This piece is about 1 ½” thick and has been formed over several days. You can’t see that clearly in this shot, but looking at the cross-section you can see the layers of ice as it has frozen progressively more thickly.

In any event, I thought it lovely enough to warrant a shot.

Last year, hens were being helpful and the year before we were watching the talented pbaser, Rose doing her stuff.