After the Storm
After the crazy few days of weather thanks to Storm Emma with a healthy helping hand from Ivor, things finally quietened down on Sunday. There was still plenty of snow lying around here and there even at sea level and plenty more in the hills, but the destruction caused by the storm was clear.
Storm Devastation
Anna and I popped in Clettwr Café for coffee and cake and to get some supplies. I’d been up this way yesterday for a run on my favourite hill rep at the moment and had to carefully make my way through the fallen trees.
Hill Reps
The road had been closed following the storm due to being blocked by trees but was now just about open. The paths in the Clettwr Woodland weren’t quite so easy to get through and I found myself clambering over tree after tree. There was devastation everywhere with hundreds of trees down, including some huge oak trees that had just toppled like dominoes. Fences had been shredded and were lying all over the place and hedges had been destroyed. Even a bus stop had been torn from it’s concrete footings and lay bent and mangled by the 100mph winds. Huge branches had been torn from trees and the whole place was a mess.
There was debris everywhere, the dirt and sand blown in by the storm was disgusting. Everything was caked in a thick film of muck. We couldn’t see through our windows because of it, cars were caked in the stuff. Everything was filthy and will take some cleaning to get it back to normal. The lean to is just full of the stuff. It had even somehow made its way into the closed shed.
Winter Waves
It was still quite windy on Sunday morning but it was dropping off so I headed off to the beach at lunchtime for a paddle. I hadn’t dared venture out in the crazy winds so needed to get some paddling in before I forgot how to do it. The waves were looking good, 2-3 foot and holding up well due to the offshore winds. Perfect for a play. It might not be proper paddle training but it was fun blasting out through the waves and then riding them back in. I didn’t quite have my GoPro set up properly though so the footage wasn’t great.
Finally the winds eased. The sun came out and the big clear up began. It’ll take a while to get everything looking nice again and I’m sure a few plants will have suffered in the garden. Who knows how the bees are doing as well? Hopefully they are OK. It’s difficult to take stock fully yet as much of the garden is still under drifts of snow topped with the disgusting film of muck, but we’ll get it all sorted soon.
