In this weekly blog, I chat about four of this week’s One Hour Outside activities: a history lesson on Cleeve Hill, paddling on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, some local trig bagging, and a garden-based marshmallow toasting treat.
Hooray for Spring! The second week in a row when we can say we had reasonably decent weather – including at the weekend. And wow does that make a difference to me and my stupid weather-dependent mood! I hope it’s helped you feel at least a bit positive, this week, too.
This episode of my weekly blog series is actually being typed with slightly cold fingers as I sit outside in my back garden waiting for my fire to ready itself to accept marshmallows. Of course it is.
As I will tell you a little later in this post, I decided that this evening was the perfect opportunity to use my fire bowl for the first time this year. So, I’m sat, bundled up in my (now smoke-smelling) puffy coat and thickest joggers, as the sun sets, enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of a little personal campfire.
It’s calm and peaceful out here – no-one is blaring music as they sometimes do in the daytime, the neighbourhood children and chickens aren’t complaining, there’s no sound of drilling or jet washes, and I can’t even hear anyone else having a conversation. It’s just me, my fire, and my words as the light dims and my fire crackles. I’ll take it.
My Week
The whole week has been one of varied One Hour Outside activities, I have to say. And it’s those I want to concentrate on in this weekly blog episode. No talk of work, productivity, how I have or have not been able to focus, keeping house, cooking dinners, buying random must-haves, or any other such things. For weekly blog episode 150, I’m returning to what I anticipated they would be about all along – the little adventures that keep me going between the big adventures and the day job.
Of note this week has been the history lesson I had on Cleeve Hill when I paid a visit to the archaeological dig taking place up there in my lunchbreak on Friday, a lovely first paddle of the year in the spring sunshine on Saturday morning on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, visiting my local trig pillar on the last day of Trig Week, and the hour I’m currently spending tending a fire and toasting marshmallows on Sunday evening. While the big adventures are fabulous, it’s these little ones that really keep me going.
I’ve had other One Hour Outsides, too, of varying lengths (as One Hour Outside is not necessarily one hour exactly…). I went on a couple of lunchtime walks to run errands in town, had a walk with some church friends looking at the little things, talked about life whilst sat outside a café with a coffee and a pastry, potted a couple of Dahlias by my front door to provide a bit of colour, and even – because it counts – put my laundry on the washing line.
But for the purposes of this weekly blog episode, let me start with a history lesson…
Searching for Clues on Cleeve Hill
They’re digging up Cleeve Hill! It’s okay… only a little bit…
Volunteers from Gloucestershire Archaeology (GlosArch) have been up on Cleeve Hill this week locating the Cheltenham Racecourse grandstands which were up on the hill in the early 19th century. The team is trying to find out as much as they can about the method of construction, the racegoers, the horses, and the daily life of supporting staff.
I love a good history story (I have my dad to thank for that), so made an effort to go up and see what the dig was all about. Any excuse to visit the hill and learn a little more about it! The dig was right by the pylons end of Cleeve Hill, not far from the trig pillar which marks the highest point in the Cotswolds AONB (so the one without the big views!).
When I visited on Friday lunchtime (in the rain), there was a group of seven or eight hi-vis vest-clad volunteers scraping away the dirt from the western wall of the grandstand. One of the men was more than happy to chat about the dig and what they’ve found so far. He showed me trays with lots of blue slate from the roof of the back buildings, broken glass from mugs or potentially windows, a small amount of pottery (although not as much as they’d like), bits of plaster in three different colours which suggests the inside of the building was nicely finished, and a clay pipe stem with the makers name inscribed on it.
Just one Horseshoe
Apparently, the grandstand being uncovered was packed up super quickly after it was sold at auction – they had less than two weeks to vacate the premises and remove all the stuff, which is why the team were hoping to find lots of left items.
I particularly liked that they’ve found a single very old horseshoe. Just the one. All skinny and battered, but definitely an old horseshoe. Although they were hoping to find a gold sovereign or two, hoping the racegoers carelessly dropped their winnings only for them to be found over 100 years later… I guess they were just too good at keeping their gold in their pockets.
If you are reading this weekly blog episode thinking ‘oh I’d love to see that archaeological dig on Cleeve Hill’ then I’m very sorry, but they finished on Saturday after four days of digging. You can see what other digs Gloucestershire Archaeology have planned on the Fieldwork page on their website.
Visiting the archaeological dig was a really fun and different way to spend my lunch break, I’m very glad I went, even if I did get very wet. It reminded me of what One Hour Outside is all about – making time in my day to get outside with purpose. It works, it really works.
If you are looking for a fantastic half-day walk on Cleeve Hill, then look no further than the loop I chat about in this article.
First Paddle of the Year
It’s been nearly six months since my kayak had any use. I guess I’m a two-season paddler! Anyway, this weekend I got my boat out for the first time this year, and rather than head back to one of my favourite two launches to paddle the same stretch of the River Avon again, I decided to try somewhere new. Time to broaden my boating and venture onto some of the other waterways I have close to home.
And so, on Saturday morning, I went for a paddle on a short two-mile stretch of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal from Saul Junction.
The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal was built to allow boats to bypass a treacherous section of the River Severn. Once the broadest and deepest in the world, this canal is famous for its swing bridges and pretty bridge-keepers’ cottages.
And Saul Junction, where I put in on this occasion, is where this canal meets the Stroudwater Canal, and as such was a significant meeting place for ships and crew, boats and boaters from around the world. There’s a marina, boatyard, boat club, and the Cotswolds Canals Trust visitor centre, so it’s a busy little spot in rural Gloucestershire.
Saul Junction
Expecting it to be busy, I was sure to arrive early, and was on the water a little after 9am. I paid £2.50 to park in the car park for four hours (I drove up to the one by the lock as advised by a couple of other paddlers I know), and launched into the canal next to a couple of moored boats.
There is a lovely long and low launch at Saul Junction, but it was fully occupied by the boat club when I got there. To be honest, I wasn’t completely sure if that was a publicly available launch anyway; the ramped launch has signage saying it’s private, but the launch they were using didn’t. It was hard to tell. Anyway, getting in right by the car park wasn’t an issue, and I got out at the same spot.
I began by paddling downstream, under the swing bridge (the road I’d driven over), and past the factory with its large moorings. There was a lot to look at – all kinds of boats, buildings, and wildlife. It was really pretty that way, and I would have liked to go further south, but decided that given this was my first paddle in so long, I should go upstream first in case my arms gave up and I required the help of the water to get back. Sometimes it’s good to be sensible.
To Parkend Bridge and Back
I returned to where I’d launched, under a second swing bridge, and upstream towards Gloucester. I needn’t have worried, it was also pretty this way, as well as being suitably calm and tranquil. There were moored boats dotted along the canal, a solitary fisherman looking to catch dinner, hundreds of birds, and maybe a handful of people walking along the tow path.
I made my way up as far as Parkend Bridge, another one of the canal’s famous swing bridges, at a very leisurely pace, pausing a number of times to watch birds or sip my tea (yes, I took a flask of tea out on my boat – don’t you?!). This became my turnaround point, as I was already starting to feel the ache in my arms and back, and wanted to get lunch before my parking ticket ran out!
Paddling back downstream to Saul Junction I noticed it was getting busier on and next to the water, but it was still a peaceful place to be. I didn’t see anyone else on a kayak or paddleboard until I got back to the car and there was a group getting ready to launch, which surprised me – maybe people choose to launch where the parking is free?
When I got back to Saul Junction, I’d paddled around four miles in total and was in the water for a little over 2.5 hours. I like paddling at a slow pace, taking in my surroundings and listening to the sounds of the water. The canal was lovely and calm in the main, with a few spots where the wind whipped things up and meant I had to engage my core muscles a bit more, but nothing like when I’ve paddled on the Rivers Wye or Avon.
More Paddling Adventures to Come
Once my kayak was safely away, I headed to the The Stables Café for a coffee and toasted sandwich, which gave me an opportunity to people watch before I headed home. Service was oh-so-slow, but the sandwich was good. It topped off well spent morning.
Now I’ve had a taste of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, I fully intend to paddle the whole 16-miles of this pretty waterway at some point – I think it would make for a really fantastic weekend adventure. I’m going to need to be much fitter before I tackle that (my arms ache enough from those four miles!), so I’ve been looking at other launches that might make for nice One Hour Outside paddles when I find myself with a morning available.
I’ve got a copy of Lisa Drewe’s new book Paddle Boarding Wales Cymru on the way (it’ll be a review copy), which I’m hoping will inspire some more new-to-me kayaking trips this summer. I mean, I’m happy to drive over the border into Wales for hiking – like this hike up Pen Y Fal – so why not for paddling, too? Watch this space!
If you’ve got other suggestions for calm and tranquil spots local to Gloucestershire that I should take my boat this year, please do let me know.
Oh, and did you know you can plan your paddles on OS Maps? Maybe that’s a feature I should talk about sometime.
PS I have the Aquaplanet Inflatable Kayak (two-person), which was originally gifted – there is a review post here. I absolutely love it. And I’m all official thanks to being a member of Paddle UK (formerly British Canoeing), which gives me my waterways licence.
Trig Bagging for Trig Week
I didn’t meet Ordnance Survey’s challenge of visiting a new-to-me trig pillar during Trig Week. Although it was only just, as I did bag two new-to-me trigs on my walk of Black Hill, Cat’s Back and Hay Bluff last Saturday, which was the main feature (complete with route) in my last weekly blog episode. But as that was two days before Trig Week started, I can’t count it.
I did, however, make sure I bagged both my local trig pillars before the week-long celebration ended. It seemed only right. And each was tapped in very different weather conditions!
In case you didn’t know, there are two trig pillars on Cleeve Hill in the Cotswolds AONB, one very slightly higher than the other. The one everyone knows stands at 317m above sea level at a spectacular viewpoint from which you can see deep into Wales on a nice day – and still has magnificent views even when the weather is not so clear. The other, which is technically the highest point in the Cotswolds at 330m, is by a wall in the not-so-interesting part of Cleeve Common, but it’s still well worth a visit.
I call this my local hill because it’s the one I can see from home and work, and it’s the place I end up most often when I’m looking to get some quality countryside-time without travelling anywhere. I am very blessed to have such a beautiful part of the UK right on my doorstep, and if you have been reading Splodz Blogz even just a little bit here and there over, you know I visit often.
Two Local Trigs
I didn’t visit them both on the same One Hour Outside; not this week, anyway. And I didn’t plan to visit either, but took the happy opportunity when each arose.
It was very wet when I visited the highest trig pillar in the Cotswolds – the one near the pylons that doesn’t boast far reaching views – on Friday lunchtime. As you know, I’d gone up to the hill to see what was going on with the archaeological dig, and I mean, it was right there in my eyeline as I chatted to the volunteers, it would have been rude not to.
It was an incredibly quick visit for two reasons; I was on my lunch break and so really did only have a minute to spare, and it was raining. I also visited Cleeve Common’s herd of Belted Galloways while I was there, who were all sitting down (you’ve heard the old wives’ tale that says if cows are sitting down it’s going to rain, haven’t you?!). It’s a good job the weather was mostly good last week, as it meant that bit of rain didn’t matter as much as it might have otherwise.
And the second trig on Cleeve Hill – which is the second highest point in the Cotswolds but arguably the prettier of the two – I visited on Sunday morning. Again, not an entirely planned visit, but an opportunity I couldn’t pass up when I was on the hill with some friends enjoying a Sunday morning walk. Cue another slightly awkward photo of me by a trig pillar… I’ve no idea what I’m doing with my legs!
Did you visit any trig pillars, whether new-to-you or old favourites, during Trig Week?
Woman Makes Fire
As I mentioned at the top of this post, I’m sat writing this weekly blog episode (or most of it…) waiting for my fire to ready itself to accept marshmallows. It felt like the perfect evening to get my fire bowl set up for the first time this year, and while it is rather chilly out here as the sun sets, it definitely hits the spot. I’ve only put two logs on the fire, so it won’t last long, but I’m happy.
There is something about sitting outside in my garden by my fire which forces me to relax in a way that doesn’t work when I’m inside, somehow. I can’t leave the fire unattended, so I might as well sit, and enjoy some real down time.
It was made even more lovely thanks to the promise of toasted marshmallows sandwiched between chocolate hobnobs. I’m no American s’mores connoisseur, but I’m pretty sure this is a very suitable British version. Although, I have to admit, the Haribo pink and white marshmallows really aren’t that great for toasting – the bog-standard own-brand ones are much, much better. They just don’t get gooey enough!
The Outdoors Can Be Simple
My private campfire (sans singing campfire songs) was honestly the perfect way to end my Sunday – and my week. And even if I had to turn my kitchen upside down to find my marshmallow toasting fork, as featured in my Currently Loving post last November, it was worth the effort.
It’s a good One Hour Outside tale to end on in this weekly blog episode, as it is a demonstration of how spending time outdoors really can be the simplest thing. You can go on big, far away, and maybe endurance-requiring adventures if you like, I know I do. Walking, paddling, even digging in the ground looking for historical treasure are all wonderful activities. But when it comes down to it, sitting outside watching and listening to fire is one of life’s real outdoor pleasures.
As with the paddling, I should make sure I get lots more of this as 2024 continues to whizz by – it might help slow things down a little.
See You Next Time
I’m (not surprisingly) rounding off this weekly blog episode early on Monday morning, and it’s pouring down with rain outside. Apparently, it’s going to all day; the weather is trying its hardest to be very Monday-ish. I should see it as an opportunity to make those various One Hour Outside activities feel even nicer in my memory, as I get ready to start another working week.
I hope you also found some time for some outdoor fun this week, and especially at the weekend. I’d love to hear what kind of One Hour Outside activities you got up to. A comment in the box below would make my day.
If you are in need of some inspiration for things to do outside (or know someone else who does), here are ten tiny things to do outdoors, and this is my list a list of 50 things to do outside this spring.
See you next time.
Read more Weekly Blog episodes.
Buy Me a Cuppa?
If you enjoyed this weekly blog episode and fancy supporting me and my mini adventures this year, you can “buy me a coffee” for £3 (well, a cup of tea, if that’s okay?). Head over to Ko-fi to find out more. Thank you.