It had taken us much longer than we expected to get organised and issues with the van needing charged did not help. Something up with the electrics had been draining the battery till it was virtually flat while resting over the Winter. Several charges did not seem to wholly rectify things. This was going to be a "careful" trip as we judged how well the van was holding together.First major test of the bike was the route round the lake; not at all too testing. The bike passed with flying colours, amazingly easy to ride even up the steep incline at the far-end. Despite its 18 gears a low-6 seems more than sufficient. Even able to get up the steep incline into the campsite.
The forst remains starkley naked though. So many of the solitary trees in the parkland showing quite clearly their characteristic shape. Some, like the Weeping Willow, just looking really cool. Took an age to get this image and it still does not really work to show the tree in its full glory.
We finished up checking out the Arboretum, I especially wanted to have another go at the Sequoia thinking the Fibonacci spiral would be further exaggerated with minimal foliage; which it was but images were not much better than the original.
Found still further surprises even at this time of the year with blood-red rhodadendrons well in bloom, a storm struck cedar broken in half and a variety of beautiful barks that normally go unnoticed, normally over-powered by their foilage. Discovered a marvelous Japanese maple which illustrates this well. This particular shrub had three sides draped, like a willow, with a network of fine, bare branches. On the fourth side, the normal growth receded and we can see into the main trunk. As far as I know, these maples are not trained, they are just naturally twisted and gnarled. Clothed in moss just enhances the image with better shadings. Struggled to get any other colour in though, perhaps a good thing to leave the focus on the trunk.
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