St Martha's

Last Friday Sara's and I set out a somewhat cold but bright day for St. Martha's. It was something of a surprise to find that the side roads were icy and the closer we got to St. Martha's we found the pavements sprinkled with snow. Once we parked the dogs tumbled out of the van in excitement and we climbed the steep hill to St. Martha's church which was well covered in snow. The view from the church of the surrounding countryside was superb made magical with everywhere covered in snow, the branches of trees gleaming with frost. We walked for some two hours through the woods and fields Brigg at one point threw himself into a pond, (he does love water) this was not a good idea as he emerged grey with stinking mud and very quickly the water froze on him! As we walked the sky became very dark, it started snowing and the horizon became shrouded in mist, we were still about 30 minutes from the car park. Eventually we climbed the long steep hill up to the church and the car park some 500 yards beyond to our snow covered vans. It took some time to clear the windscreens, happily I had a scraper and a can of de icer with me which helped but the windscreens were frozen up both inside and out and even the de icer was reluctant to do its job. Eventually we set out, Sara leading the way, the road which had been bad when we arrived was now treacherous with freezing snow on top of ice and despite proceeding with extreme caution around 5 mph in first gear we were both skidding all over the place and having managed to drive down One Tree Hill in one piece we then had another hill to climb up a narrow country road which was scary, having zigzagged half way up both our vans skidded to a halt, to stop myself sliding back down the hill I had to leave the van in gear as the hand brake alone was useless,there was no way either of us was going to get any further without help! Happily although my van had stopped right in the middle of the road I was beside some one's drive so there was room for other vehicles to get by, not that there was much activity on this quiet country lane! Sara eventually managed to slide backwards so that she was not completely blocking the road. It was unbelievable that a couple of cars struggled up the road hooting for us to get out of the way, lucky them that they were able to without a thought for the couple of damsels in distress! A man in a 4 by 4 stopped but was too busy to help us as he had to pick up his daughters from school! It seemed sensible to phone the AA, however, Sara had left her phone at home and the battery had run out on mine! I did have my emergency spare phone in the van, but guess what........there was no signal!! There was no one at home in the house I had stopped beside so there was nothing for it but to wait and hope! During this time we were both getting cold and Sara had managed to fall over on the icy road twice. Eventually after what seemed like ages a truck came along and stopped to see what was amiss, that the driver actually had a tow rope in the back was incredible and he towed us both to the top of the hill, we were both so grateful. We still had to drive down the hill which after more skidding we successfully negotiated and it was a relief to finally reach the main road which was clear. I continued to have problems with the ice on my windscreen which only just cleared as I was reaching home. It was good to get home and once the dogs and owls had been fed relax beside a roaring fire.