original plan; go walk up one of the 3 peaks.

then the brilliantly unpredictable leeds winter struck with much snow and sleet and hail and rain, seemingly all at the same time.

plan b; go walk round eccup reservoir which was, according to the internet, “constructed in 1830 and is the largest area of water in West Yorkshire.”

unfortunately plan b still involved being outside and none of the rain/hail/air-born misery had really stopped so the first mile of the walk consisted of the right side of my face going completely numb with cold (note to self, buy a coat with a hood).

according to, well, fact “The reservoir is now home to a growing population of red kites. These were introduced into the area as part of a national programme in 1999 and now number over 100” however we didn’t see any of the big, red bastards. we did manage to encounter the worst smell known to man, some kind of mega-compost-manure-peat-tar awfulness was being spread on the fields.

there was something immensely satisfying about being outside despite the cold and rain and smell and lack of big raptors.

then we went to the pub.