“Wonderful” Christmas Snow

Alastair BegleyEquestrian, Sports Short Link

Well with the second batch of snow in under a month cancelling my second job in 2 weeks due to the snow and horses not being able to compete when the ground is all frozen and covered in snow I have been trying to make the most of it for pleasure purposes as although it is a pain it does make for some stunning scenery, though unfortunately there has been no more snowboarding (Snowboarding in Bath). So during Christmas week I went walking with my family and family friends around the Cotswolds which were stunning in the snow. Then for Christmas I headed up to my Gran’s with the rest of my family which is where the horses are kept so I went out into the fields while they were exercising them there as the roads were too icy to go out on and finally on Boxing day we went for a very atmospheric walk in the snow covered Malvern Hills with our cousins. And thankfully the snow now seems to be thawing extremely quickly, with tropical temperature of 9 degrees at home today!

Snowboarding in Bath

Alastair BegleySports Short Link

With all the snow that has hit the UK recently it has converted many places to look more like ski resorts than British cities, with Bath being one of them.With this in mind,  a friend and I decided to do some snowboarding in a field literally right next to his house! Unfortunately without the creature comforts that real ski resorts supply in the form of lifts up there was a lot of walking and the occasional begging on people with cars to get to the top.From the photos it is hard to tell that these were actually taken at the outskirts of a city in England at the start of December! The photos were very fun to take and running down icy slopes camera in hand was an interesting experience!

Snowy Bath

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Wildlife Short Link

Yesterday I headed into Bath to see a friend from school and Bath was covered in snow, so much snow that we actually went snowboarding (these pictures will appear in a later blog post). Shortly after I arrived at his house it was pointed out that a pair of deer were at the opposite side of the field next to their house, so in an attempt to get my first wildlife pictures of an animal other than a bird I hastily changed lens and “stealthily” ran across the field to get as close as I could before spooking them, unfortunately the one that was hiding in the bushes was more timid than the one in these photos and got spooked and ran away causing the one out in the open to follow suit! Then later in the evening after it got dark we went for a wonder around town and near Pulteney Bridge and came up with these two cityscapes, unfortunately the photo of the bridge it’s self did not come out as well as I had hoped as the weir was not lit up as it often is, though. Read the full article…

Winter Wonderland

Alastair BegleyLandscape Short Link

This weekend I was up in the Brecon Beacons and unfortunately it had warmed up so most of the snow had gone but I was caught out by the trecharious conditions walking to the waterfalls that are near Ystradfellte, as the paths were covered in ice and made walking very difficult, but it was worth it as when we got to the waterfalls there was still a large amount of ice left which was a stunning site. I just wish that I could have been there last week when it was a long way below freezing as I think that the waterfall would have been even more spectacular!