Snow Day...

We had a great snowstorm last night--the first snowy December in Edinburgh in over 20 years..!! Though it's been lightly snowing off and on all week, this was finally the real thing. We got about 4-5 inches, which isn't much in other parts of the world in the Winter, but for here, it was lots. It was so deep in places that Ozzy had to snowplow his way through the drifts.

Is there anything better than that beautiful hushed silence of a heavy snowfall..?? We bundled up and were out walking just after 8:00am. It was still a bit dark (Scotland in the Winter, don't you know), so the combination of too early and lots of snow meant we were just about the only ones out. We had to blaze a trail in several places...though it was easier for us than wee Ozzy. He wasn't complaining though, and just frolicked like the kid he is.

I took my camera since this was an Event, and below are the photos.

Across the street from the house is the road that leads down to the River Almond. The drop-off along the road is pretty steep, though I was able to walk pretty close to the brink and take this shot straight down the embankment.

Made it down the road to the bottom of the hill, and here we are just beginning our walk along the river.

After walking a ways along the path, I turned back and took this shot. It's the view looking back of the photo above. If that makes any sense..??!!

This is about the halfway point on the river walk. Alan and Ozzy are standing under a canopy of snow-laden tree boughs.

At the end of the river now, and walking toward the Forth and along the waterfront. My sister will remember these steps that cut through Cramond Village, from the upper level to the water. She took a great photo from the top looking down these same steps.

Finished with the waterfront and are climbing up a different hill to head home. It was just such a cool early morning walk, with no people, and other than the crunch of snow under our boots, blissfully quiet.

The Cramond Tower looms over the scene. A private home, with a view you would not believe. This part of the walk leads us past the Tower, up a trail through the woods, then through the church/cemetery (where we stop to give Oz some treats and feed the crows), then it's another 15 minutes or so to home.

It was a great adventure, and a really fun day.  Though, it was an entirely different story when we got home and had to disrobe 87 layers of clothing, get out of snow-filled boots, strip off jeans soaked to the knees, drip snow all over the kitchen, and try to melt the snowballs off Ozzy's chest, legs and undercarriage.  That was less fun.  Still, it's a rare treat to have the snow, so yeah, I guess all things considered, it was a perfect Snow Day.