Monday 4 February 2013

MORE SNOWY DAYS - Jan 2013



So much for my IT skills. My 2nd posting has disappeared. I think I have probably inadvertently deleted it when trying to post my 3rd blog!

So for the sake of fluency and for those who may not have read it yet, I'll attempt to recreate the 2nd blog before moving on to the next one ...

SNOW DAY 3
No more snow but the wind had blown the drifts up to about 7 ft in some places along the road. It would be some days before anything could get through to us. 
We found a poor sheep upside down in a drift, the other side of a fence with just it's feet and head sticking out above the snow. Somehow Will managed to single handedly free the sheep and lift her onto the road which at this particular point was relatively clear of snow. The sheep stood up. shook its fleece and wandered away as if nothing had happened.



SNOW DAY 4
Needing more supplies, (namely cat food) we ventured out on foot to catch the local bus from the nearest village which is normally a 15 minute walk away, but on this occasion it was a 45 minute clamber and in some cases, roll. We found one of the easiest way to get past a 7 foot snowdrift blocking the road, is to roll over it!


Amazingly, the village about 100 metres below us had little snow left and the local town, 15 minutes later had no sign of snow whatsoever. After our shopping trip which included buying ice grippers for our walking boots, we filled our rucksacks and headed off on the return journey.

SNOW DAY 5
The council sent a JCB to dig us out. We made the 2km walk to meet it, to find it had given up after 200 metres and gone home. We discovered that the machine apparently wasn't flexible enough for our narrow road. 

SNOW DAY 6
The council sent a more flexible machine which was little more than a toy. Too small to be of much use at all, it cleared another 200 metres and gave up. The farmer was not too pleased as he was fast running out of food for his sheep. Will & I continued to give his cattle their morning feeds. 

SNOW DAY 7
They sent a snow blower. The snow clogged up the machine so the council replaced it with a JCB digger and a bulldozer working in unison. This did the trick and by the end of the day they had cleared the road.

Free! Whoo hoo!!



SNOW DAY 8
A digger arrived, carrying a load of salt/grit followed 2 council workers walking along the road who gritted the road by hand with their shovels. The following day the 10 foot walls of snow along the road thawed to virtually nothing! Leaving us to wonder if we had dreamed the events of the previous 8 days!



Next blog - back to the beginning - Where did it all start? 







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