Almost the end of winter?

Next week lovely spring temperatures have been announced. I must admit that I do, as almost everyone I talk to, count down towards sunshine and softer temperatures.  I like it when winter is a true winter, one with snow and frost, not with meek drizzle.  But now it seems to have lasted enough.

In the Ardennes, they've had about 8 weeks of snow but even at these harsher Belgian heights they expect winter to withdraw....although a bit later and much slower than the rest of the country, as always.  But this weekend, winter was still king.

In order to prevent road damage (?? my guess),  many local roads in the woods have road restrictions.  Although those 'forbidden' roads are still fully the domain of the locals, that speed by with amazing style on their cross-country skies. Quite a difference with the tourists step-slide-step-step skiing a few kms further.

"Thaw" road restrictions already in use

Can you see at which height it is still freezing?   (the tower peeking over the treeline, is Belgium's highest point).

see the frost line?

Two days we heard loud shreeking from a far distance and now we saw the source of the noise swarming by in the sky.....Lines and lines of a sort of geese were migrating by.  (update:  it was in the news today that in this area 120000 migrating cranes were spotted....so that is this huge noisy bunch we heard all weekend).

Jan's favourite highland cows  to which he hilariously talks to with a Scottisch accent...they weren't too impressed though.