We didn’t see this coming!

Yesterday we did our 10k circuit. It was cold and crisp and we set off with duvet jackets on.
Ten minutes down the Rochdale canal where believe it or not i saw three Deer the other day it started to rain.
We pondered a few seconds and then decided that it had been a wrong decision to put the duvet jackets on and headed back home for the waterproofs.
It was the right decision although we thought it would blow over in ten or fifteen minutes. How wrong we were. It came down harder and was unrelenting. Half way round it started to sleet and then snow. The flakes got bigger until it was blizzard conditions.
The wind blew up and turned the walk into a bit of a battle. We had to hold onto Dorothy as the ground became more and more slippery. (We don’t usually take Dorothy with us if there is any chance of ice).
No other folk were met on route until we pushed open the cafe door in Tandle Hill Park to find 6 or 7 others sheltering.
A warming coffee and a toasty and we set off again into the snow. I tried to pick a route which would reduce the chance of Dorothy slipping. It wasn’t that easy. The steps up to the monument were very slippy but she did ok.
On reaching the trig point the view had disappeared and conditions were as bad as they would have been on any pennine top. For a few minutes we had white out conditions. We had a laugh about Never Expecting This Today and we certainly had a few ice dancing moments as we made it down to the Tandle Hill Tavern for a warming wee dram. Well it would have been rude to walk/slide past without calling in.
The rest is a bit of a blur. But we did get home eventually.

Three Deer beside the Rochdale Canal.

A good day locally.