autumnal mist and sun

sunday 22 oct
My regular cycle ride around Beacon Fell was enriched by the smells of the wet autumn slowly warming in the sunshine. As I cycled up and along the balcony fell-side road, views over to Fairsnape and Parlick were shrouded in low cloud, with just the lower fell visible. The sun created enough warmth for the few hills to be hot work, but it was the number of cars on the road, some impatiently beeping to pass that spoilt the moment, along with their whiff of diesel as they accelerated past. Over the last of the hills, change down through the gear and enjoy the ride down, past Rigg lane and along the southern side with views over the Lancaster plain of what what was once Amounderness. The section above woodfold, through pines, strikes memories of other similar vistas - more loftier and remote highland locations. And finally the steep downhill, down Crumbleholm required a high level of concentration to avoid as many of the fallen, now wet leaves of the autumnal winds and storms.