Season of mellow mists...

The view at the back of our house on the morning of our walking group 'Xmas Lunch' walk. Wrong season for mellow mists but there's a lot of them around at the moment as the cold weather from the north mixes with the milder weather coming in from the west.

Our route for the day. A mere three miles, starting and ending at our lunch venue, the Blacksmith's Arms in Lamerton, all the way over the border in Devon. It was misty all the way around but that added to the pleasure. The mist shrouded everything and dampened the sound down to a muffled silence. Up lanes, over fields and along tracks, not a bad way to work up an appetite.

Not a day for panoramas but plenty of interesting contrasts with water dripping off the hedgerows.

More wet twigs.

Wind blown seed heads.

Wet seed pods of a sedum in a wall.

An oak looming in the mist.

A solitary skeletal tree in the middle of a field.

Heading into the mist along a green lane.

I should have said it was a green and muddy lane. But, then, it is December and it is Devon. So, no surprises there.

And the lunch at the end of it all was excellent: freshly cooked and lots of it. We'll be there again next year. To end with, a New Year's ditty. A little early, I know, but it pays to think ahead and it's never the wrong time for a good melody. Enjoy.