Various October To December 2010

31st October To 20th December 2010 - Whitby, Wales, Tomatoes And Frozen Tarn

A few different photos:

A weekend in Whitby which coincided with a massive Gothic festival.

A freezing cold weekend in Wales. Our favourite hostel with no electricity in the Elan valley had no water as all the pipes had frozen, so we went to a bunkhouse near Abergavenny where a load of lads who'd spent their lives drinking and eating in front of the telly were having a boot camp. This made our drinking and bacon eating all the more fun while they were feasting on lentils and doing circuit training. Saturday's bike ride turned into a proper epic - the conditions were freezing, with a biting wind high up. Our water bottles froze, and in the rare cases we broke through any frozen puddles, the water froze instantly to the bikes. The going was tough, and the final road back was 15 miles of ice, with almost everyone becoming a cropper at some point. We arrived back well after dark, thoroughly exhausted and cold. But at least there were showers... of a sort - they were so feeble you had to press yourself against the cold tiles to get wet. Leaving the boot camp lads to their lentils and water, we went to the pub for steak and beer. The next day, I was the only one up for cycling, as everyone was either aching or covered in cuts and bruises, so we all yomped up Sugar Loaf in glorious (but cold) sunshine instead.

A shrivelled tomato.

Yeadon tarn with really thick ice on it, except for a small patch where the birds huddle. One huddled a bit too close to the ice and got stuck and died...