The Pig Yard

Stonehouse, Gloucestershire - February 2008

Our week in Gloucestershire finally arrived. In the past we did very little preparation and just filled the car with clothes, walking boots, coats - everything but the kitchen sink. This year we stocked up with wine, nibbles and all sorts of stuff - two full box loads. When we eventually arrived at the house everyone else had done the same thing and there was enough wine to float an ocean liner. The challenge to drink it all was an impossible one but it didn't stop us having a go at it. To view all the pictures on Picasa click here...
Friday

The journey down the motorways although busy was quite uneventful. We had time to stop off at the Bell Inn at Frampton on Severn for lunch. With the sun shining this was a really excellent start to the holiday.

We were greeted by a couple of cockerels, ponies and Gloucester Old Spot pigs. The Pig Yard loves Gloucester Old Spots.

   Saul Junction is on the Gloucester and Sharpness canal and was our starting point for our walk that would include fields, woodlands, river side paths and some road walking. Within two miles Steve had managed to take us off the path and we were climbing fences.   The Severn is very wide at this point. With the tide out it was possible to see interesting flows in the mud where small streams entering the main river actually flowed "up hill" when the tide was out and left deep meanders in the river bed. An unusual geographic feature. The walk took us two hours and as a consequence we were the last to arrive at the house.
Saturday

We heard that Stroud held a farmers' market on Saturday mornings so we all decided to pay it a visit and make purchases for the variety of meals each one of us were planning to cook. Jane had decided on "Toad in the hole" and we came across some unusual sausages which would make it even more interesting.

  

After getting back to the house and with various lunchtime nibbles plus drinks consumed we all sat out on the patio soaking up some very unusual early February sunshine. As you can see from the photo, Jane in the forefront writing up her journal is in a tee shirt as are most of the others.

It was so tempting to break out the red wine and lose ourselves for the afternoon but we couldn't sit around all afternoon so a small contingent headed off across the fields.

 

We made our way up to the Kings Head in Kings Stanley where we stopped off for coffee. This is what holidays are about. We then walked back down to the disused Stroudwater canal that passed behind where we were staying and made our way home along the tow path. This did require us to walk across some boards where the canal although no longer in use was still quite wet. Nobody drowned.

We felt very virtuous on our return because most of the others had spent the afternoon being very lazy.
Sunday
Our description of our walk from Saul Junction on Friday enticed everyone to join us for a revisit. We were fortunate enough to see the swing bridge "swing" into action. Interestingly someone sits all day long in the control room waiting for boats to come along so they can operate the bridge. One assumes that it's busier in the summer months with the tourist traffic but it seemed a bit boring.  

After walking about 8 miles and some considerable moans from the company there was great relief when we eventually reached the Ship Inn, Upper Framilode.

Before long triple-decker sandwiches were arriving and the crew were more than happy with their respective beers as can be seen.

Martin and Graham refused to put them down for even a photograph.

  

The evening meals are a time when everyone comes together. Books, Jigsaw puzzles, games and the TV are all put aside whilst we eat, drink and get merry.

As previously mentioned we each take it in turns to cook the evening meal. this can be quite challenging when using unusual ovens and kitchen utensils but everyone served up delicious meals. We ate like kings.
Monday

We were only 20 minutes drive from Slimbridge Wildfowl Trust so we had to make a visit.

We arrived before 11 o'clock and the car park was already full.

   There were ducks and geese of all shapes, sizes and colours. Most were very friendly because they were used to people feeding them. This could make it difficult to get a decent photograph because as soon as you crouched down one of the blighters would start waddling towards you.  

We didn't spend the whole day at Slimbridge. After lunch we headed over to Nailsworth, a small village nestling in the cradle of some significant hills. This part of Gloucestershire has the feel of the Derbyshire Dales.

We mooched around the shops, raising a few hopes. Steve even went as far as buying some slippers.
Tuesday

A select few (6) went off to the Gloucester and Sharpness canal to walk to Sharpness. The first part of the walk with the River Severn on our right and the canal on our left was fascinating. The picture shows a concrete barge that at the end of it's life has been beached to form part of the river bank defences.

The concept of concrete barges proved fascinating. The thinking was along the lines - "concrete doesn't float and is heavy so who would dream of building concrete boats". Of course the physics of displacement applies equally to metal boats as it does to concrete ones.

  

Close to Sharpness dock we came across the site of a Victorian railway bridge that spanned the Severn. There were 21 spans and it must have been a wonderful sight when first opened in 1879.

Unfortunately the bridge was hit by two oil barges in 1960 and the ensuing explosion weakened the bridge beyond repair. The circular tower in the picture was a pivot for the swing bridge across the canal.

The canal now ends in an area of docklands which is largely used for warehousing and there was no shipping movement when we were present. In Sharpness Old Docks there is the Severn Area Rescue Association which looked interesting.

  

At the end of our walk we agreed to meet the non walkers at a small village called Uley because it appeared to have a village green and a pub.

The Crown Inn turned out to be a gold mine for the beer drinkers because it had a number of real ales on pump and was connected to the Uley brewery. After a superb late lunch we all agreed to find somewhere to fly Graham's bin liner hot air balloon.

Everyone bundled into the cars and we drove back towards Stroud where there was an area of common.
Tuesday (continued)
The theory behind the hot air bin liner is quite simple. It is made of a long tube of black, light-weight plastic which is filled with air by pulling it along and then sealed at either end. The heat from the sun, even in February, warms the black material and the air inside becomes lighter than the surrounding air as it warms up.  

Within minutes the black pudding shaped balloon was floating away on the end of a piece of kite string.

It attracted a number of interested bystanders who asked whether we were conducting some form of experiment. Hey no - we were doing this for fun.

In the still, late afternoon air it soon rose to the end of the tether string and it was very tempting to let it loose but we decided not.

  

Just a short drive from the common was Hetty Pegler's Tump - a Neolithic earth work over 4,000 years old. Thankfully we had an expert in the form of Dr Martin Weaver, to talk us through the details of who built this burial mound and why.

It was possible to crawl inside and some of our number did but the sensible ones stood on top and soaked up the last of the days sunshine.
Wednesday

On the Wednesday morning we all agreed that we would go our separate ways for the day. We went into Stroud to shop in the morning and then Steve found a walk starting in Uley which took us up a steep hill to Uley Bury (hill fort).

The views from the top would have been excellent if it wasn't for the haze but as you can see from the inset picture the sky was very blue. We toured the fort before heading down hill on a different footpath.

  

As we walked back into Uley we came across the brewery of the same name. Jane went inside to ask if they had any bottled beer to take back for Graham and Sue but unfortunately they didn't bottle any beer because it wasn't profitable.

We decided to extend our walk by taking some footpaths out of the village towards a small hamlet called Owlpen. The footpaths seemed well sign posted however after coming out onto a road and walking steeply uphill we realised we were lost.

  

Steve became very fractious at this point because he has a reputation for getting people lost on "his" walks and he doesn't feel it is justified (so why do we keep getting lost?). After some cursing and swearing on both our parts we eventually found where we were and made our way towards Uley. Thankfully we did pass Owlpen Manor (pictured) as this was our original destination.

To lift our spirits we sat and shared a banana in the late afternoon sunshine. This gave us sufficient energy to get back to the car.
Thursday

On our final day we all went off to visit Gloucester Docks. Instead of 3 cars in convoy we followed our respective satellite navigation systems. Two of us travelled up the motorway and one went cross country but interestingly we all arrived at the same car park within seconds of each other.

As we stepped out of our respective cars to pay the parking fee we realised how very cold it was.

  

It was much colder than anything we experienced so far. This meant we walked briskly around the docks looking at one or two tall ships before diving into a cafe for warm coffee.

Having found Gloucster Antiques  in one of the old warehouses and with much reluctance from some of our number, we entered.

It was on many floors and most people spent a happy hour wandering into the different bric a brac stores. Steve considers such places as junk shops, full of over-priced second hand "stuff".

  

If we found it cold just imagine what this diver felt like. He was laying cable between different parts of the docks and rather than use the bridges and walkways they were placing them underwater. Having laid them he was putting heavy sand bags on top and then bags with a mix of concrete which presumably set them in place.

We then took a quick stroll around Gloucester itself but  it had nothing special as a shopping area, but which towns do these days?
As part of our holiday we prepared CDs of some of our favourite tracks:

Jane's Compilation

Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin' (Album version)

Prince - The Revolution Kiss (LP Version)

Diana Ross - Upside Down

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street

Dionne Warwick - You'll Never Get To Heaven If You Break My Heart

Stevie Wonder - I Just Called To Say I Love You

Eurythmics - There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)

Elton John & Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Carpenters - We've Only Just Begun

Eagles - Hotel California

Eric Clapton & BB King - Riding with the King

Kinks - Dedicated Follower of Fashion

Steve Winwood - Back in the High Life

Don McLean - Vincent

Steve's Compilation

Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Rolling Stones - Factory Girl

Tracey Chapman - Fast Car

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Kate Bush - Man with the child in his eyes

Free - Alright Now

Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower

Peter Gabriel - Mercy Street

Police - Every Breath You Take

Canned Heat - On the Road Again

Dido - Thank you

Eagles - Hotel California

Regina Spektor - On the Radio

Gorillaz - Dirty Harry