Martin's Mag.

You have to be careful if you plan to secure your expensive bike in Bristol!

I’ve posted about this canal a few times over the years, and how work by enthusiastic volunteers is restoring the canal and river navigation from a muddy ditch to today’s near-completion. Big advances are being made along the area we walked from west of Ebley to the east of Stroud and back, stopping for lunch at the Corner Café by the Saturday Market site (unfortunately it was a Tuesday).

We spotted this photo in a paint shop in Avonmouth. It shows “knocking off” time in Avonmouth Docks in the nineteen-thirties, and the workers on the way home (past where the paint shop now is). We were struck by the suits, hats, collars and ties of the workers.

One of us is four.

Fine weather means the campervan’s flexing its muscles. We ended up in Monmouth for lunch, home via Ross on Wye and Gloucester.

There are usually a few nice days in England in February, and this was one of them. We hadn’t been to Sidmouth, in East Devon, for ages and had forgotten what an interesting and lively place it is. Most photos by Sally.

A sunny, warm, day walking from Brockweir to the Abbey at Tintern, on the river Wye.

Something one notices with the advancing years is the time one spends in pubs with old men.

Like most art exhibitions, this, Cosmos, at the Royal West-of-England Academy, covers the bases from thought-provoking to bonkers.