A Bizarre Phenomenon

On Sunday my husband and I went walking. It was great to get out in the fresh air and actually use my muscles for a change. Although most of the snow from earlier this year had melted, there were still patches of it lying around. However, partially melted snow is not the bizarre phenomenon I wish to share with you today. This is much more exciting and unusual. Apparently (so my clever husband’s hypothesis goes), once upon a time in the very recent past (like the last month – he didn’t give that detail, but I’m taking advantage of poetic license here!) a large cavity of usually boggy ground filled with water. The top layer of the newly-created pond froze over whilst somehow the water below drained away (probably into the ground – the observant husband pointed out a possible sink hole in the area) and the frozen ice sheet on top cracked gently and then settled into its new position. Which resulted in bizarre sight in the photos below. The first two were taken from a path quite high above the ice. The rest were taken from a little wander down to the ice itself – usually not a good idea because the ground is unstable, but on Sunday it was frozen in place and so very conveniently stable for us (although a little embarrassing when three walkers appeared on the path far above looking curiously down on us – it felt like we were unprepared actors in centre-stage!)