Out with the old and in with the new

The festive season and fate dictated that the weather gods smiled broadly on the days I was committed to entertaining family, so no surprises there then.   I did manage two dawn trips to the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr. The 1st promised a scene of snow mantled hills, hoar frosted rocks and moorland, with cold clear air and the ethereal dawn colours of blue and magenta, with the proviso that cloud was moving in by noon as a warm weather front crossed the UK. At an unearthly hour the headtorch revealed much promise, a severe frost coating everything in the Forest of Dean, 2 kettles to clear the frost from the car windscreens. On the way the and full beam headlights revealed hoar frosted trees and grass. Sadly, the weather front c/w cloud, had other ideas, the twinkle of stars disappeared near Abergavenny. Maybe the cloud might break up or the distant horizon would be clear for sunrise?  Nope. 

It was interesting to witness the phenomena of verglas formation unfold, as the incoming warm air melted the hoar frost, which instantly froze, coating rock with ice. I'd always assumed rain falling on sub zero rock as the cause of verglas. 

Hope was sustained, with cloud breaking up to the south east. Alas, the snow/frost thawing on the hills generated a blanket of hill fog and my cunning plan utterly unravelled.  With the hill summits shrouded in fog, the cloud started to break up letting through some sunlight, sigh.

A small positive was the overhead cloud and diffuse light, which presented some photographic interest in the Limestone pavement.

Maidenhair Spleenwort

Lichen and limestone gryke

So, that was it for 2014. Might 2015 deliver a more obliging sunrise over Fforest Fawr?

A new year and a renewed optimism, the Met office mountain weather forecast again wrote of broken cloud, excellent visibility etc. Time to visit to Fforest Fawr again. Deja vu as the car windscreen was de-frosted at an unearthly hour of the night and the Forest of Dean was impressively sparkling in hoar frost. Parking up in Fforest Fawr, the frost had disappeared, whilst getting 'suited and booted' I was conscious of the cold and brisk wind, cloud was moving briskly across the sky and with head torch illuminating the way, I too moved briskly to get warm.

The cloud obscuring where the sun would rise  ...

The view to the SE

Ah well, the sun would clear the cloud eventually. Which it duly did and so the cloud in view cleared too, hmmm.

Suffusion doline, limestone pavement and fast disappearing cloud.

With the cloud absent from both the desired composition and overhead, my spirits dropped a tad. A blank sky, post sunrise, is a depressing sight as 1) it reveals the full misery of a cyan coloured horizon and b) the 'cool' colour imparted to shadows and neutral surfaces. The exposed limestone pavement is neutral grey in colour, great for warm light, not so great for shaded aspects and why overhead cloud is so welcome in colour photography.  

On the plus side, it was a great day for a wander, viewpoints explored and much to ponder on the landforms and topography. Thoughts turned to the afternoon light and a hill to the SE showed some potential. On the way back to the car I spotted this in the grass.

Cordyceps militaris

The Scarlet Caterpillarclub (Cordyceps militaris) a fungus that parasites moth larvae.

The new location demonstrated the stark difference in ease of traversing limestone and sandstone terrain.  I reacquainted myself with the tedium and effort of traversing Molinia dominant moorland on the quartzitic sandstones and from there on, kept to the bracken/nardus terrain instead. In comparison with other areas of the Brecon Beacons NP, the size of the sinkholes through the quartzite sandstone were notable.  Some viewpoints were also found and even some clouds put in an appearance too.

Fforest Fawr view

Where the quartzite bedrock is exposed there are fine examples of glacial striae, polished surfaces, chatter marks etc

Chatter marks and glacial polish, glacial ice movement from left to right.

Incoming sheet cloud from the SW was the sign that sunset would be a non event and time to go home, not a bad day on the hills though.