What an interesting week - my first time at the Ballet and a memorable, albeit very damp winter walk. I was on the very edge of the Bristol Coalfield in South Gloucestershire. A short distance to my east was the southern edge of the rather lovely Cotswold Hills. My quarry - pun intended - was to be reached following a river that I had not trudged along previously.
Plenty of rain and some light snow this winter. The ground is sodden but it didn't deter me. I went out on a bright sunny day after a night of heavy rain. This was a wet walk indeed.
My walking pal was indisposed so this was a solo walk. I set out from the pleasantly green and wooded picnic area near to the Swan Inn at Swineford. Splish-splosh it was. Frankly, I was happy to be walking uphill toward the neat little village of Upton Cheyney and its recently reopened rather lovely pub - the Upton Inn.
I was going to walk north along the River Boyd - in a wide open valley with an abundance of stables. Hereabouts is called the "Golden Valley" and it would lead me northwards to the eponymous nature reserve at Wick where I expected to see some Carboniferous rocks and some industrial history too. Find out what happened in my video.
Join me next time for more waking fun with the PonyTailed Pensioner. I will be going back to this area - maybe when it has dried out!