Mist in the valley - Cardingmill in the gloom

Mist put paid to our planned circular walk today - we turned back at the waterfall.

But the Cardingmill Valley, near Church Stretton, Shropshire, is a fantastic place to walk in any weather.

Mist shrouded the hilltops but this is walk is so popular that the car park was more than half full.

The well-defined path makes it easy to get to the head of the valley, (route finding is less easy on the summit).

We take the left fork off the main path, keeping right by the stream (the main path takes the right fork).

After some clambering, the first waterfall

...and a little further on, the second, bigger one 

The mist closed in, so we turned back. A full blog of this walk will be done when I can actually post some of the excellent views.

But as a bad weather walk, it was an exhilarating three miles - highly recommended.

Notes: people from the Black Country love this area. There's a National Trust Car Park at the entrance to the valley, and there are easy walks up the valley, with more challenging walks over the Long Mynd. Plus, the stream is fantastic for all ages, for paddling and making dams. 
I have to say I have never been in bad weather before and I really have missed out.  
PS Also a cafe part way up the valley, heated by a log burning stove and selling breakfast sandwiches till 12.00 (just saying!)

Water water everywhere - Thames Path Day 2: through the Cotswold Water Park

Day 2 of our Thames Path journey, past some lovely lakes, part of the Cotswold Water Park (like this one, Somerford Lagoon)

Starting from Neighbridge, the river flowed clear..

About 4 feet deep at this bend, you could see every stone on the bottom

We soon reached the Lower Mill Estate, based round a lake...

...and a gated community with very expensive houses

...some of these waterside ones are over £1m to buy!

It would be lovely to sail here.

Just in case we weren't sure, the sign explained where we were

There are almost 150 lakes in the water park, which was formed following gravel workings. Still 60 years supply apparently, so more lakes to follow.

A recently fallen tree ahead

As we walked, the river got a little wider

The village of Ashton Keynes, a very attractive settlement 

Here, the path left the Thames for a while

New thatching 

Though we'd left the Thames, there were more lakes

This field had dire warnings of treacherous quicksand

The path was in a good state

This lake had a waterski jump

Finally we left the lakes...

...through a few flooded fields

...and back to the river

It was nice to walk beside the Thames again

...even though it was somewhat muddy

Between the trees, the tower of Cricklade's Saxon church

This is North Meadow, which is famous for its massive April display of snakeshead fritillaries 

Horses grazed the watermeadows, ...

... and I loved the use of an old delivery van as storage for their equipment

Arriving at Cricklade,..

..there were several nice looking pubs.

In thebarista Cafe the glass for the can of coke was a jam jar!

...and the milk came in a cow creamer. The food was good though

A narrow lane led to...

...St Sampson's Church. Saxon in origin, but largely rebuilt later

The distinctive tower is 16th Century

Here, we finished for the day. Another 8 miles completed. Next time, Cricklade to Lechlade

About the walk. Public transport is difficult here, We parked at the Town Hall - all the other car parks are also free, (amazing) The South Cerney Cabs taxi arrived very promptly, and charged a reasonable £12.50  to Ashton Keynes, from where we walked from to the Thames at Neighbridge.
Distance walked  9.6 miles, of which 8 were on the Thames Path. 
So we are now 13 miles down, with 171 to go!

The source of the Thames

The first of my blogs documenting the Thames Path, a 184 mile national trail from the source to the Thames Barrier.

This is the start. From Kemble railway station (Gloucs) through fields of sheep

...past frozen sections of what is the Thames.

 Ice gathered on my shoes.

Crossing the Fosseway.

The start is in sight (white block behind the white cow)

A pile of stones marks the rather unimpressive beginning, 

...along with an unreadable marker stone

The path proper begins... 

A hunt fence for trail hunting - (can only be jumped one way, so can only be used for a planned route)

The first bridge (it's by the entrance to Kemble, and can provide a good parking spot)

The Thames quickly becomes a stream, crystal clear, and with plenty of water weed 

The weeds were bright green...

These leaves look to be the surface, but are actually underwater. I wondered if it was water cress? There was loads of it

We came upon this fabulous site - if it had been warmer, I would have fancied a swim here, The whitish stone underwater has a blue sheen, and the water is completely clear  

The next settlement was Ewen, a village of lovely houses

The stone roof tiles get smaller towards the ridge

Past Ewen, the tiny Thames is very neat and civilised for about 600 metres.

A mill race along the way

Interesting woodland meanders 

The furthest part of today's walk. We sat to eat our sandwiches here, at Neigh Bridge, the start of the Cotswold Water Park.

We retraced our steps back to the start. As public transport gets more abundant later on, we can do one way walks, but there was no realistic alternative today, so although this was a 10 mile walk, we have only ticked off 5 miles of the Thames Path! 179 miles to go! Watch this space...