How do you describe a morning when your intended plans and hopes are dashed and little change appears likely, at least in the short term. A strong easterly wind, sweeping light snow over all before it amidst poor visibility, continued all day! Having said that, the depth of snow locally didn't particularly increase, but reports from other people arriving suggested drifts were becoming a problem in some areas. Television reports confirmed this, and promised little improvement either!
Clearly nothing was going to be achieved and I began to be relieved that I'd a booking in place for a couple more nights!
The day following ( 23.3.2013 ) I set off early, given the snow had stopped falling, with the intention of travelling westwards to Carlingwark Loch and the Threave area and testing the feasibility of travelling through to Stranraer and Loch Ryan on the final day of my stay. How naive can you be I asked myself later! I did manage to get through to Castle Douglas, but accumulated snow and drifts suggested things were getting worse the further west I travelled. It was nigh on impossible to park anywhere safely and the upshot, after a frustrating attempt to bird around Carlingwark Loch, was a decision to visit Tesco's store, get some supplies, return to Dumfries and "dig in" for the rest of today and tomorrow. The possibility of "digging out" wasn't something to be contemplated at this stage!!! And so a period of self-imposed "imprisonment" ensued over the 23rd and 24th March relieved by ham sandwiches, cheese and ham pasties, library books and television!!
As I arrived back at the Travelodge on the 23rd a lady and her daughter had just returned from "somewhere towards Stranraer ", where they'd been marooned in their car all night. They'd finally made it eastwards that morning behind another large vehicle after the road had been partially cleared. Looks like Surf Scoter is off the ornithological menu!!! Reports from Islay of disrupted ferries, electricity supplies and telephone facilities being down suggest current circumstances are to be appreciated. Quite a nice cheese and ham pasty actually!!
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