Walk Before Christmas

Happy new year to you all, I hope you have a great Christmas and did not have too much to drink last night. If you noticed my new avatar and name it is because I dumped the Google Plus profile as G+ is closing in April so I needed a name, thought about Billy Blue Hat but as there is  book called that I went for eyes because I have blue eyes, my wife chose the avatar because she did not want me using the one I had first.

Anyway on with the blog, My wife & I were getting fed up being at home so went out for some exercise  taking one of the local walks.

 Anyway one of the first paces we walked past was the brook where I noticed something but you will have to come back tomorrow to see what it was 

  I could have take a more photos of the walk but this one is towards Lollingdon House again I spotted something in the tree to the right which you will see tomorrow

 This is looking from the hill to the place called Lollingdon, it's only the old farm and  a few houses

 Lollingdon Farm, back in the middle ages this was a Manor house and is one of the very few moated houses in the UK

  Around the side of Lollingdon hill I walked past this seat, can't recollect it being there before but it had been varnished.

 Sitting down you can get this view towards Aston Tyrrold where I seem to remember a certain Tim Henman lives. I did see him in the local pharmacy one day

 Any way on with the walk and we pass the sheep on Lollingdon Hill

 The pass Lollingdon Springs which is where the brook rises that you saw in the first photo.

Have a great New Years Day and all the best in 2019

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

St James RC Church Reading

Last visit by the Church Explorer this year is to a church I used to go to while at Scholl next door, St James. A nice church that brough back many memories for me

This is my last blog for this year so Mery Christmas & Happy New year

Santa is on the way

Morning View

My last view of Fforest Fields for this year on cold winter morrning

 Well worth the effort of going up the hill

That's it for this year I hope to be back in the new year with more Skywatch photos, till then Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Last Walk up the Hill

We paid our last visit to Wales for this year and took a final walk up the hillside while the weather was good, the night before had been very windy with heavy rain though we went off not expecting to see much other than a lot of wet ground

 The sheep did not seem bothered with us walking past

 This is a before and after shot of a gully, back in May it was bone dry now water runs freely down hill again

 Making little waterfalls on the way down

Further along near the view point is where we came across a problem
A tree had been blown over across the path

It was where the Fungus a took photos of a few months earlier

It had come down pulling over a couple more making the whole lot quite precarious looking

We went down to the view point to get past, lucky that was undamaged

Looking back it looked a mess

Near the bottom of the hill I noticed another casualty, an old tree had been blown over. We went off back to the caravan for a cup of tea and get ready to go home.

 Come back on Friday & I will show you what it was like from the Viewpoint on that day. That's it from me for this year, hopefully I will be back for more in the new year, till then

Merry Christmas & Happy New year 

Crickadarn Chapel

Crickadarn Chapel (Hebron Indipendent Chapel) is across the road from St Marys Church, it was built in 1854 and rebuilt in 1901. I took the opportunity stop and get a few photos as well

Sky Toll

Not someting I would normaly take a photo of but this is the M4 toll in Wales as you come off the Prince of Wales bridge. It closes in December so after that it will be free to use the bridge. I will be going a different way that weekend so to miss the work removeing them and the jams it will cause. Enjoy the blue sky you see over the Toll

I won't miss doing this as it can queue back a couple of miles at times waiting to go through

Happy Skywatch

Gnomes abound

Crickadarn

You might recognised the name from Sundays post, well I too a couple more pictures around the village as well

 Across the road from where I parked was this nice looking house

 In the wall by the house you could see this old Victorian Wall Post Box

 Turning the other way a small road passed this house which will take you up into the hills and nearby forests. The roads tend to be very narrow only just big enough for a car

 Turning around again you see a a classic BT red phone box which if memory serves me has a phone in it, most nowadays don't but generally get adopted by the village they are in.

In the first photo you see a barn over to the left, in the window was this very nice looking jug.

Taking part in Our World Tuesday

St Mary Crickadarn

This weeks Church visited by the Church Explorer is St Mary Crickadarn, a Church dating back to the 13th Century and sill with some of it's Medieval features.

Station Sky

 The other week when I went out for a walk to visit a carpenter I took some photos of an old barn that had been demolished, whiel on the way back I saw a wonderfull sky of the Railway Station

 Looking across the field towards the station

Fluffy Clouds float in the sky

Happy Skywatch

Singing Raindeer

More development

While waiting for the bus home from Wallingford the other day I could not help notice a couple of things happening in the town.

 This pile of rubble you see was Wallingford Police station. It was closed and sold off as part of cost saving. 

 This is what it used to look like back in 2010 and then it was part time. When I was a youngster it was fully manned and had a complement of police that patrolled the Town and outlying villages. I wonder where the government is going with this because it does not seem right to me, we need more police not less

 So into Town and this area had been cleared, all I can tell you was there used to be derelict barn over near the red barrier in the distance. I suspect all this will be redeveloped

I'll finish with this. The building used to be the Westminster Bank Or Nat West as it was latterly known. A couple of months ago it closed due to cost cutting and on-line banking (which I do not have or trust) It now leave three Banks in Wallingford and a lot of unhappy customers of Nat West. I wonder how many moved banks over this. I now await to see what will happen to this building.

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday