2015 has not involved enough kayaking. 2014 probably didn't either, but this year has been ridiculous. I paddled the Dart Loop in January, but that's been it in terms of white water! Ok, I've done a couple of flat trips too, and most weeks at the lido over the summer, but that's not the same.
Last weekend we did the Upper Usk. One of my favourite easy rivers, especially on a sunny day. Which it was:
There was a nice (and pretty!) dusting of snow on the Brecon Beacons, but it wasn't actually as cold as I thought it was going to be when I left the house.
So good to be back out on the water 
Perhaps the most iconic part of the Forest sculpture trail, last week Place was taken down. It had been there since 1986, and had to be taken down because it had become too unstable.
Obviously this is a shame, as the 'Giant's Chair' is well loved. But it was originally only supposed to exist for a year, and one of the charms of the sculpture trail is that things do evolve, rot, get reclaimed by nature etc. Parts of the chair have been burned for charcoal, and I believe two of the legs have been left for wildlife.
This photo is from a visit in October 2010.
I remember visiting the sculpture trail when I was little, before all the trees around it grew up. Back then it was visible from a distance, while in recently it's been a bit more hidden because of the trees - not that you can really hide a huge chair!
No announcements as yet as to what will replace it - hopefully something similarly impressive and long lasting.
The sculpture trail people have put together a nice tribute video, as well as a page of memories.
Saturday was the very first Gloucester North parkrun. This is very definitely now my local, as it's within walking distance.
There are quite a few nearby parkruns now, which is quite exciting. I've done Cheltenham (including the inaugural one) and the Forest of Dean, but not Newent, Kingsway or Tewkesbury. That may or may not change at some point, but it's certainly nice to have a choice!
Glos North is held at Plock Court, which is a big boring flat field - no prizes for scenery here. It's also been known to turn into a large lake, but that's another matter...
One of my regularish running routes includes a lap of the whole thing, which clocks in at around 3km, so I'm quite used to running there. The parkrun course is 3 laps of one half of the field.
I set off far too fast, and didn't realise until someone's fancy watch beeped at 1km and loudly announced a pace of 5:25. Oops.
By the third lap my cold-filled lungs were not happy with me, and I did have to stop a few times for some coughing. But I ran sub 30, yay. In fact, it was my fastest parkrun ever - but that's not saying much as it's taken me 5 years to do 13 of them (though there was a 2.5 year gap between #1 and #2, ahem).
Perhaps having one so close to home will persuade me to go more often!
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