First Snowdrops

Yesterday evening it rained, then the sky cleared and the temperature plummeted.

This morning, a passing Tesco delivery driver stopped to warn Mrs MW to take care as there was black ice everywhere: he had already seen one large truck on its side at the Dornoch bridge and several cars sliding around on the A9, which appeared not to have been gritted.

So we didn't set off for our walk until after eleven, taking the coast path north past Dunrobin Castle and stopping occasionally to watch....

....the shore birds feeding along the tideline - mostly gulls with some oystercatchers and the small flock of turnstones which seems to have taken residence for the winter.

Paths where the rain had puddled and which hadn't been touched by the sun were lethally dangerous - we met one lady walking her shih tzu puppy who confessed that she had just sat down very hard on her bottom, and we were only prevented from doing the same by our ice grippers.

Paths wander all over Dunrobin woods so we keep finding new ones to explore. This one, quite close to the castle, led up to what might be described as a stone igloo, with a small porch leading in to a round mound of earth and rocks....

....seen here from the other side. At a guess, this is an old ice house from the days before refrigerators.

We loved the bath, made from the same sort of heavy glazed earthenware as old butler sinks. One wonders which lords and ladies sat in it while their personal servants ran back and forth to the kitchens for pitchers of hot water.

The new path also gave us this very welcome pleasure - the first snowdrops of the year.