The Joys of Commuting

My commute to work usually passes in a sleepy blur most mornings, but with the recent cold snap i have been fortunate enough to enjoy some stunning early morning views along the River Ouse in York.
I had decided to leave the bike at home and walk from the Station to work, taking in the quiet scene along the river bank south towards the millenium bridge. The final stretch past Rowntree Park i have usually had to myself - just the trudge, squeek, trudge of my feet through the crunchy snow. So i took a few pics to show off the scene which has been pretty special with the bridge lit up by the christmas lights.

Winter Comes Early

It was only a week ago we were enjoying the moors by bike. This time its back on the Ski's as the first snow of the winter arrived - yes in November. For once my days off coincided with the brilliant white out conditions. So dusting of the XC ski's i headed out to check out the trails.
In all i made 4 trips out to Boltby Forest, 1 gruelling trudge/trip round Guisborough Woods, and 2 cheeky trips round Stone Cross Leisure Centre Field!, totalling 14hrs and 72km. Yeah not fast and quite a few falls especially at Guisborough.
If the winters continue to remain consistent like this then we can almost guarantee some snow each winter good enough to ski on. The trails in Boltby in particular are really well suited to holding the snow and if you time it right  a local gamekeeper will cut some nice tracks for you to then ski in. There is a good mix of flattish wide forest roads, a few steeper descents/ascents and then a good network of smaller trails even if a little rough. We certainly think it has potential to hold a Ski-Orienteering competition sometime in the future and we have 'mapped' most of the trails for skiability. The only real difficulty is being able to guarantee folk can get to Boltby via the narrow lanes. Access from Sutton Bank to Sneck Yate is usually clear or kept passable along the top road by the local farmers, and then there is a space for maybe 6-8 cars.