Views from an Early Morning Walk

Being inspired to get out for a walk early this morning I went up onto Stinchcombe Hill.
Here I found some Harebells in flower.....

....and got this atmospheric view over towards Cam Peak and the Long Down.............then I returned home ready for breakfast!

Down Darwin's Way

On my way back from visiting Dover for mum's birthday I stopped off, near Orpington, to visit Down House, the family home of Charles Darwin. It was in this house and its gardens that he mulled over (for years and years!) his ideas about a theory of evolution. I pulled into the carpark in time for a spot of lunch and whilst I chewed on my sandwiches I spotted this interesting shot through my car roof! Any dark spots you can make out are not blemishes on my car but aircraft queing up to land at Gatwick!

Anyway, here is the house....
...and here a view from Darwin's "Thinking Path" (with his greenhouse visible beyond the hedge) along which he walked three times each day, rain or shine, regular as clockwork.
It was interesting to visit and see some of the various specimens he collected, books he refered to etc. etc. But its not a huge house, so hardly a "whole day" sort of place to visit. I timed my visit very neatly, as just as I left a coachload of tourists arrived!

Canoeing with Ian

Visiting the Ferndowners this weekend, the weather on Saturday was just great for a spot of canoeing at Highcliff. So while Lyn popped into to a shop Ian and I went on down to the beach and set up camp...
with clear views out towards the Isle of Wight
...of a small group sailing further out to sea as Ian got the boat ready.......
...and towards Christchurch harbour off to the right as he "zipped" himself in....
......then off he went, leaving me to amuse myself and have a bit of a swim.
When Lyn arrived we had a spot of lunch. Then it was my turn, forwards........
.............backwards...........
...............riding on the crest of the waves......
.....then all the way to Christchurch and back (well, actually not. Next time maybe!)
A fun time was had by all, in fact.

A Local Walk (part 2)

Leaving Coaley Peak I backtracked
up the road slightly towards
a wee place by the name of...

Here (just before the first house)
I picked up a footpath which took me down
into woodland once again.
Here I was menaced by the
woodsedge along the path side

but also enjoyed spotting
some slimemold














and other boscy dwellers















After a little while I emerged from the woodland
into the upper reaches of the village of Uley
(that's "you-lee" to the un-initiated!)

I was amused to find that Uley has an old
style petrol station which I wouldn't normally
spot driving through the village.
It stated that it was "Open" and I momentarily
believed it! (I wonder how much petrol was the
last time it WAS open!)
It is now of course, merely preserved
for show.

Another unusual feature to Uley is its Brewery,
producing only its own local ale.
A pint of this suited as a lunchtime refresher.

Suitably refreshed after this I headed out
of Uley climbing over "Uley Bury", an Iron age
hill fort which also has archeological evidence for
a Romano-british pagan temple.
Unfortunately rain stopped play
with my camera here. Await another blog.

After the climb up, a decent towards
the base of Cam Long Down














In this dip between hills wild clematis and dog rose
bloomed




























I then followed the Cotswold Way
once again,














with views of Downham Hill
to my left














and back to Coaley Peak on my right




























This time I took a route skirting around the lefthand side
of Cam Long Down






















Then I crossed over the "saddleback" and down
across fields once again.........















...over stiles.....















......and through gates, heading for Upper Cam
















where once across the Cam river again I was
on the homeward straight!
















A very satisfactory 5 hour round trip, I hope you'll
agree!

A Local Walk (Part 1)

This is going to have loads of pictures, so I've split a day's walk over several blogs. Some come from a walk a few weeks ago, others from a walk on 1st July.
The first section from home heads across the little river Cam,














and over a stile or two...



and through quiet pastoral scenes...





























in the direction of Coaley village.















When I walked this way a few weeks ago Coaley
was having an "Open Gardens" event, and several
addresses had created scarecrow figures.
I particularly like this one outside the old school building.

This time when I walked past I discovered the figure
had come to life!

Leaving Coaley I continued uphill
and into a quiet little lane,

made not so quiet by haymaking while the sun shone
(well it was when they started), last time I passed by


The lane ended at the edge of woodland....

..from where I picked up the Cotswold Way to take me
onto the hilltop towards Coaley Peak.
The main appeal of Coaley Peak is for its super views,
but it is also a spot to discover numerous wildflowers,
butterflies etc. Its also convenient for a picnic
....or at least for an icecream!








This is also favoured spot for activities like flying kites,
model aircraft, or even paragliding. Proper glidering also
takes place from the airfield at Nympsfield nearby. It also
has a "long barrow" iron age burial site like this one which
goes by the lovely name of "Hetty Pegler's Tump",
although no-one called Hetty Pegler ever got buried here
that's for sure!


This blogs photos were a mixture of Flickr.com and
using the blogger photo adding icon. I have to say the
using the blogger one is very handy and alot quicker
than posting to flickr and then pasting the url into
the blog. I recommend this way!
My next section of the walk will be created shortly
just using the "new" approach.