Lower Lydbrook to Ross-on-Wye.  Another 10 miles of Wye Valley Walk, made possible once again by mum's taxis (thanks mum!)

Started off by crossing the river, over the old railway bridge - which I am much more used to seeing from river level, complete with "canoes keep left.  no stopping! no landing!" etc scribbled on the pillars.

The first few miles follows the riverside, past Welsh Bicknor church/youth hostel, and through fields.  Loads of people out enjoying the river in canoes and kayaks (and I think I spotted some rafty things?).  Quite a few other walkers around too.

Eventually, I reached Kerne Bridge.  Took a very minor detour to the picnic area to have my lunch, where the table/benches had been completely taken over by two people who weren't even sat down eating... reckon they must have been waiting for friends/family to get off the river for a massive lunch or something.  So I made do with perching on the wall instead.

From Kerne Bridge, the path heads away from the river, and up a small hill. Then down the other side, along for a bit, up another bit, and again down, where the path meets a road (near Coughton, apparently).

Here we turn right and walk a section of permissive path past a farm and eventually up the particularly steep wooded slope of Chase Hill.  An extra workout for my calf muscles, ouch!

Heading down the other side of the hill was almost as steep... good thing I had my trusty walking pole to take a bit of the strain off my knees. (as a side note, I'm definitely a convert to walking with poles now)

As I reached the outskirts of Ross, WVW signposts started to become a little scarce..  What I've learned so far from walking through the more urban areas is that you really have to keep your eyes peeled for the marker signs - they tend to appear higher up on street signs and lampposts.

Eventually I found myself hitting a dead end down the side of some tennis courts, as that's where I thought the sign pointed.  Obviously not!

Couldn't really figure it out from my OS map (green lines everywhere, argh), so I thought 'sod it' and decided to rely on my sense of direction to get me back to the car.  Which worked perfectly   (and, you know, I'm relatively familiar with Ross-on-Wye town centre anyway...).  Of course, when I properly consulted some maps at home afterwards it was ridiculously obvious where I should have walked, but hey ho!

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The final weekend of July (a five weekend month!) was a busy one, even by my standards.

On Friday evening I headed over to see the parents, who provided food and a lift into town so I could see the mighty Goldie Lookin' Chain playing the festival.  Which was generally rather entertaining.  I was less amused at the cost of a small cup of Pimm's from the bar mind you...

On Saturday I ticked off a bit more of the Wye.  Monmouth to Symonds Yat (and back again), on my bike via the Peregrine Path.  A really nice cycle route actually - it follows the path of an old railway line along the river bank, lacking in any real inclines or difficult terrain.  Definitely recommended for a nice (half?)day out.

I wasn't exactly hanging around though - about 1hr 40 in total, including a quick stop in the Saracen's Head for a drink and a stamp in my passport.  I lost count of how many other cyclists and walkers I overtook, and was back in time for lunch

After lunch I cleaned both bike and car (neither of these happens often enough), and stopped off in the Forest on my way home for a quick blast around the new mountain bike trail - the Verderer's Trail, rated blue with a red ending.

I'd heard nothing but good things from various mates who'd already ridden it, as well as random people on the internet.  And they're right!  Whilst it may "only" be blue (fine by me, I hate scary biking), it's awesome fun.  Bumps, berms, and general friendly fun

Hampered slightly by the gears on my bike playing up Rear derailleur refusing to shift onto the two smallest cogs, plus occasional annoying spontaneous gear changes and slipping.  Not ideal, but I'd paid for my parking so wasn't about to admit defeat and go home.. Instead I took it easy (ie slowly), walked a few bits, and limped around 10k of trail in 92 minutes.  But not to worry, I will be back and this time will be improved on!

Detailed investigation when I got home revealed a nicely frayed and mangled gear cable outer, so I guess something got bashed when cleaning/throwing in and out of the car.  oops.  More on that later though.

Anyway, that was Saturday.. I'd not planned anything for Sunday other than vegging out and possibly doing some housework, so was only too pleased to tootle up to the Malverns when Abi complained of being bored and needing something to do.

We went for a 7km walk along the top from Wyche to British Camp, a brief ice cream stop, then a wander around British Camp itself.  Lovely!

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This is Levity III. It's big, inflatable and very colourful - but otherwise fairly hard to describe (at least, probably not without getting all pretentious and arty).

It's been at Taurus Crafts in Lydney this week, and I popped along after work on Tuesday.   Abstract bright colours = photo opportunity!

It was good.  Sort of surreal and hypnotic, mostly quite calming and relaxing, and generally a bit odd.  I think there was some music being piped in as well.  An experience mostly unhindered by random children trying to bounce off the walls (despite having been told repeatedly that it is not a bouncy castle and not for jumping on...).

I'd happily have spent much longer just sitting and chilling out inside it, I think

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