Stranded...

I've discovered the downside of living out of town...the gritters don't come down my road. As a result the recent spell of bad weather has quite comprehensively sealed me off from the outside world...

This is the only road between me and civilisation. It's too narrow for a gritter to get down (not that they tried), and it is about 500 metres long, before heading up a hill to the main road (which is clear of snow and ice). I walked it last night, and it would be suicide to attempt to get my bike up there...cars are finding it hard enough, with lots of them slipping and sliding on the twists and slopes. All the cars have really achieved is compressing the snow down into a good strong slab of pure ice.

Ironically, the main road is only about a hundred metres away as the crow flies, but all the footpaths have pedestrian chicanes so I can't get Matilda through. I was hoping for some rain today to wash the ice away, however it's just started snowing again, so the chances of that happening now are pretty low. Fortunately my survivalist instincts mean I have enough food for about a month (somehow I doubt that's ever going to become a limiting factor)...