Stepping Stones

I like stepping stones: they're fun. Here's my friend David crossing some on the River Wharfe at Burnsall, in the Yorkshire Dales, in the summer of 2006.

And here are the very well-known stepping stones on the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey, in a recent October:

I spent many a long summer childhood afternoon going backwards and forwards across them. I don't remember ever falling in, which surprises me as they aren't very big and need quite good balance, and I'm not sure I could cross them now. I know I did a lot of clambering about in Lake District rivers too, in those days, so perhaps I'm just out of practice.

Here they are seen from the bridge:

and here's the identical view, when we arrived at Bolton Abbey in the mist, last Saturday morning:

The same trees - - the same riverbank - - and no stepping stones.

Where were they? Well, a bit of cunning detective work found them, and here they are:

Several feet down below the water! The river was, of course, very high because of all the melted snow.

Seeing them down there gave me a strange feeling of loss. Even though I know they'll be back, and so will Spring. It's been a long winter.