Cold wind tore across the broad open landscape of low hills, funnelling into the wide valley to flatten heavy winter grass. Vegetation danced and swirled like weeds animated by a rushing stream. To ride was an elemental experience: pushed back in the saddle by the sheer force of the wind, buffeted by gusts whilst having to snatch for breath. Brena and I provided an obstacle to the great flux of wind, like a boulder in fast flowing water. Like that rock we held our ground though the elements protested their right to move us.
Sheltered by a belt of trees a crow perched on a fence that has itself been bent by the prevailing wind.
Sleek and streamlined, the crow remains motionless thanks to a little shelter and the art of presenting a minimum of resistance to the tugging shoving wind.
Black in a grey world, still amidst the flow, the crow is a momentary absolute. And then he ascended with deft beats of those lustrous wings, balancing in a splendid dynamic equilibrium like a small boat deftly paddled.
It seemed as the bird appeared in order to deliver a lesson: either present a small silhouette to the world's troubles; or else soar aloft weathering them through agility.
I had expected the ridge to be windiest of all. However, strangely, the valley seemed to have captured the strongest currents. Perhaps that was because the ridge bears banks of trees whilst the valley is bald and open? This world is full of greater and lesser surprises, not all of them readily explicable.
Someone had left a carpet on the trail just where it crossed a racehorse gallop. Usually one would blame fly-tippers, however this carpet was weighted with logs. It seemed intended to protect a small area of rubber fill where racehorses speed across the hard-packed trail, the gallop itself being closed during such bleak weather. That carpet became a training ground. On the third attempt Brena walked straight across the carpet without stopping either to snort or to sniff at it.
Then back to the parking area where we watched a man and a boy race radio-controlled electric cars. Brena's attention was was, of course, almost wholly taken up with eating. What hazard could there be when a hay net is there tied up in plain sight?
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