“Okay then, email me if you wake early. And if it looks hopeful, I’ll come down…” My son had asked if we could go and greet the sun somewhere again, if the weather was suitable. Having slept badly the past few nights, I can’t say that I was overly enthusiastic. I can watch the dawn perfectly well from the warmth of my living room window with a coffee in my hand.
“Shouldn’t think I will, I’m pretty tired…” he said. I sighed with relief. A relief that was short-lived as, according to my inbox next morning, he’d been awake since four and the sky was unexpectedly clear. The night had been cold. Rain had turned to sleet which had fast become a thick layer of ice. Cursing quietly, I scraped the stuff off the windscreen and headed for town in the pre-dawn light.
Nick’s garden was an ice-rink and getting him into the car safely was no easy task. The main roads were reasonable, but we were heading out of town and onto backroads that would not have been treated. As we climbed the one decent hill that has both a parking spot and a view unobstructed by hedgerows, the car became as excitable as an untrained pup and I was glad when we could pull over. Even the sheep had not yet risen, but here we were, once again, chasing the sunrise…
It was not until that moment that I began to feel glad we had braved the morning. Snow had settled on the higher ground. Not much… just a dusting… but enough to catch the golden light and blue shadows of a winter sunrise.
I left Nick leaning against the car and took the camera for a walk, completely forgetting about the boots, coat and gloves that I keep in there for days like this. It is not the most inspiring landscape, with few trees and no rocks or buildings to add interest to the photographs, but there was a sign saying ‘beware of the bull’ on the fence and evidence that the farmer was not just trying to keep out stray walkers.
The youngsters in the field were placidly curious. They had already been fed, so the wild haired, red-nosed, blue-fingered lunatic pointing the camera at them did not unduly disturb them. Nor did the pheasants lift their head from breaking their fast, and the buzzard just sat on the fence post while I snapped away.
As the sun rose in the east, the western sky glowed pink and the crescent moon rode high above the fields.
For a few brief moments, the world was lost on a golden glow, then the shadows deepened, highlighting the remnants of the medieval ridge-and-furrow fields. Sunlight gleamed on ice and sparkled on snow and the breath of the beasts rose in clouds. It was perfect.
By eight o’clock, the sun was up and we could head back to warmth… except that by this time all the roads would be heaving with rush hour traffic. We were going to have to queue on busy roads for an hour, just to go five miles… or we could take a scenic route, down the narrow lanes I know so well, away from the rat-runs, and see what the morning offered. There was no contest really… but we really did not expect there would be quite so much beauty waiting…
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Truly beautiful scenes ❤️
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It got better as we drove 🙂
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Magical. And sometimes these moments turn out to be the most memorable of all.
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The simplest things usually matter the most.
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Yeah, they do. 🙂
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Thanks for sharing your beautiful morning! (We’re so lucky to be in north of Scotland, where a winter’s dawn very considerately waits until mid-morning.)
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And you get palm trees in the snow 😉
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Thanks for sharing, Jaye x
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I really must make the effort to get out more, but without wheels it does tend to shorten ones enthusiasm…
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I can imagine. The dog takes me out, like it or not, in all weather’s. ..but there are days I would stay home if it were not for work and having the car.
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Especially today, its blooming freezing out there!
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Tell me about it!
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Beautiful photographs, Sue. It was well worth getting up early just for these.
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I’m always up that early… just not always out quite as early 😉
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I think these photographs are amazing. This is why I get up early every morning. If you don’t you miss out on life.
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Dawn is such a beautiful reminder that every day is a new beginning 🙂
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Gorgeous photos, Sue! What a lovely morning.🤗
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It was beautiful…and got even better 🙂
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💕🤩
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Lovely photos Sue. A beautiful scene to wake up to, even if you had to go out in it.
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It just kept on getting better too 🙂
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What a glorious morning. Sometimes, I wish I didn’t love my warm morning bed so much!
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I can’t remember the last time I got a long lie in bed 😉
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What a beautiful post. I love the photo of the bull´s profile. Made me think of home on the ranch in Alberta. I usually get to see the sunrise when I take the dog out for her morning walk. Of course here in Spain, I don´t have to deal with cold, snow and ice. xo
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I missed the frost and snow when I lived in France and saw none for several years. I love these frosty dawns 🙂
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What a beautiful morning! ❤
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It really was 🙂
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I remember another of your other early hour sunrise excursions. This one too made me want to venture out and see the world waking. Or I can sit here, snuggled with my coffee and look at your photos and enjoy your musing. Beautiful, Sue.
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We saw so much on this morning outing that it will run to two more posts… 😉
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Awesome. I was thinking about how beautiful cows are at dawn. A weird thought, but there it is. 🙂
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They do seem to work well together, cows and the sunrise… no surprise really when you think of how many ancient solar deities had cow horns… 😉
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Lovely, Sue…
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Thank you 🙂
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A beauteous road-trip. 😀
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Oh it was… just a short one 🙂
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