Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Other Reservoir, and What You Can Find on the Way

The last two weeks or so have been cold and sunny. Sunday was not so cold and that meant the bikes could come out again and we could go and look at some water.

Water means the river, here, the reservoirs and lots of channels and minor tributaries that flow into them. Mrs Hickory wanted to see something new, so I took her on a route I discovered last year which follows a stream north to the larger of the nearby reservoirs, a wild place that looks and sounds like the Atlantic coast as soon as any wind gets up. The stream, especially the start, by the village of Peralvillo, is a favourite spot for birds. We stopped to watch herons of different kinds, cormorants, diving ducks in clashing colours, coots and moorfowl, and further up the stream in the taller trees, storks nests, and the birds, which have just come back from wintering in Africa, were circling overhead and swooping down to the grass for grain and worms.


The country is for wandering in and looking at, long enough to feel a part of it. We had lunch by one of the greener and more hidden banks of a stream, near the reservoir, and counted the paths we haven't yet taken, along the many rivulets, into the mountains, through the villages, and down to the lakes that are not so far away and are full of water now. Plenty of new things left to see, and the spring is only just beginning.

2 comments:

Ashok said...

Beautiful Country. You are lucky to have that nearby.

I found you in Vincent's blog and clicked to check out.

The Hickory Wind said...

This area is very dry, brown and yellow, parched for much of the year. But there is plenty of beauty if you know where to look for it, and I find looking for it is half the fun.