A very cold night last night – even the dogs outdoor drinking water had ice on the top.
But I had a lovely walk with the dogs this morning; cold & clear:
A frosty morning
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Category Archives: Phil
Coaley Peak Walk
We went somewhere new for the morning dog walk. Coaley Peak is a car park high on the ridge south of Stroud, with good views over the Severn valley:
We followed the Cotswold Way long distance path north through the woods:
Rocco of course enjoyed his stick:
The path followed past some quarries and headed downhill:
Eventually, the path followed along some fields lower down the hill:
and then back into the woods:
Eventually, we left the Cotswold Way and had a steep climb back up the hill. The path back to the car followed the ridge line:
and we stopped for a Geocache:
A lovely walk, 5 miles in total.
Gloucester
An interesting day in Gloucester; we started the day walking the dogs to a spot on the River Severn where the Severn Bore was due. It wasn’t a “big” one, and was 20 minutes late, but sure enough, there were a few waves splashing on the banks and the water level went up by a foot or two. You can just see a splash in the distance in this photo:
Later on, I used my new Freedom Pass to get the bus into Gloucester. The bus was a bit busy, but most passengers didn’t seem to mind a couple of Labradors getting in the way!
First stop was Gloucester Docks, surprisingly quiet although I’m sure the cold wind kept people away.
And a quick pint of Gloucester Brewery Cascade in “The Tank”:
Suitably fortified, we headed through the main shopping streets to a micro-pub – excellent beer but no photos, then on through the cathedral gardens to The Pelican, which also has a good range of excellent beer, including two good stouts; one from Brew York!
Then back home on the bus (a bit quieter this time). A good day out despite the wind.
Chilli Seeds Planted
It’s finally warmed up enough for me to plant this years chilli seeds in the propagator:
Notice the lovely labels that were a welcome Christmas present!
They’re now on the heated tray on the windowsill in the hall:
The Pilot
We dodged the showers yet again to return to The Pilot. Nice in the sunshine…
Standish Woods
We braved the rather showery weather to return to Standish Woods, not far from Quedgeley. After a bit of a struggle getting the National Trust car park ticket machine to actually work, we set off into the wind and headed to the nearby Topograph:
Rocco was his usual happy self, even without a stick:
From here, we headed downhill to the woods:
And I found a couple of sticks for Rocco:
Then into the woods, and the slow climb back up:
Lovely views from the top:
A nice walk, and the showers were not a problem!
Robinswood Hill
Rocco and I are staying with Steve and Toby in Quedgeley, and a Sunday tradition is a walk around the local country park at Robinswood Hill.
Quite a climb to start with; the path then contours through the woods and up the hill.
And finally, we get to the top:
Extensive views over Gloucester and Cheltenham, plus a rainbow for good measure.
The far right hand side of the rainbow was very close to Gloucester Cathedral!
Unfortunately you need rain to produce a rainbow, and it was a bit drizzly (and windy) at the top.
So time to head back down!
A good walk – Rocco did like chasing his sticks!
Garden Sprayer
I’ve been using a modified Hozelock garden fan sprayer to water the garden from our ‘well’ for years – this works well to deliver a large volume of fairly low pressure water.
It’s been gradually falling apart for a while, and finally broke at the connector end. I’ve since patched it up, but it’s only a matter of time before it breaks again.
Unfortunately, fan sprayers of this type do not seem to be made any more, so yet again, I fired up the 3D design software and designed a replacement. The first attempt had a number of problems, but the 2nd version works really well:
The inlet end is threaded to accept the existing connector and sealing washer. And if this one should break, it’s just a case of printing another one!
Weather Station Electronics Boxed
Now it’s a bit cooler, I’ve been able to spend time in the garage building a box to keep the Weather Station electronics in:
This has a magnetically attached lid to keep the dust and insects out:
See A Weather Station and Weather Station Upgrade for the original description of this project.
Hastings
We finally managed to find a day when neither of us were busy AND the weather looked reasonable, so it was off on a train to Hastings. The train was a bit delayed due to an “incident”, so Rocco was getting a bit bored:
A lovely journey down in a quiet carriage and an excellent (and chatty) conductor. As usual, we left the train at St Leonards Warrior Square and walked down to the seafront through the gardens:
Finally, we got to a bit of dog friendly beach and Rocco could let off steam:
Then a quick trip along the pier; all surprisingly empty:
All too soon, it was time to find our pub for lunch. Rocco was (as usual) very well behaved, and I rewarded him with some trimmings from my steak. After lunch, we climbed up to West Hill (it was easy for me as I had a very enthusiastic dog helping) and Rocco could have a good run around while we enjoyed the view.
We then wandered back to the Hastings Station – and sat in our air-conditioned train until it was time to go home.
A lovely day out!