The best part of the day..

One of the greatest pleasures in life is that everyone is different. Some can cope with 5 hours sleep while others need a full 9 hours to function the next day. I am in the camp of the "5 hour sleepers" and rarely go to bed before midnight. You know those people who eat far too late and start watching a film at 11pm - that's me!

I am also the person who can't believe how early some of my friends go to bed and how early they eat their evening meal. If I ate at 6.30pm, I would have to eat again at 10pm! 

However, something strange happened this week. I went to bed at the usual just after midnight (perhaps 1am) but woke up fresh as a daisy at 5am. What do people do in this time? I know some people have children or work so they have no choice yet I know some people who just get up early.. You know who you are! My father is one who for years told me that "It is the best part of the day" - He also told me as I was leaving to fly to New Zealand on a round the world trip that "The Crow's are just as black" - so I didn't take much notice! How wrong I was! 

I got up, looked out to what was pretty much darkness. I looked at the weather on my phone which said it was going to be a sunny day. It began to lighten very slightly outside and the sky started to brighten. I woke up the dog, picked up my camera bag and went outside. It was very quiet, a little bit fresh and the dog was looking at me as if to say "What the hell are we doing?". The sky started to look a deep red as the sun was on its way. It then got light enough where you could see the mist on the hills. And then the sun appeared. I was quite surprised by how quickly it rose and how quickly it got light after rising!  What we saw was truly stunning..