As the days go by, and I must say they are going past very fast we are into our last month of freedom. And another plus is that means it’s only now 7 weeks until our next payday. The bank manager will be pleased.

With a new season brings a new destination. We were going to St David’s in Pembrokeshire which we were looking forward to. But it’s all change, we are now going to Gowerton on the Gower coast of South Wales. Another nice area and to be honest much better for us this year as Mi Mi is still not well and back in hospital.

Being at Gowerton puts us 3 hours away from Barnstaple in North Devon rather than 5 hours away from St David’s and from Gowerton were straight on the motorway. So all in all better for us this year.

So I have been doing some research in the area of the Gower and it all looks good with at least four bike parks less than an hour away, and some great walks, Nikki has some shops nearby and there are plenty of nice beaches on the Gower. so on our days off we will have lots to do.

Last week I went out on my bike up in the woods just going here there and everywhere because there were so many bridal paths and some very nice downhill runs. All in all covered 18 miles of fun. The pic below shows a sign, at this point there were four choices of route. Can you guess which one I took.

After getting to the bottom of a very steep and winding hill I took another small road which took me to the Tall Tree trail. And guess what there were loads of tall trees including the tallest tree in England, well it was the tallest in 2009 so the sign says. Your not allowed to bike on the walking trails but luckily the biggest tree was at the beginning of the trail.

The whole area was planted in the 1870’s and most of the trees are Douglas firs, the tallest being 197 ft tall that’s just over 60 metres and they say the trunk weighs 50 tons. I never saw any scales around though.

Another hike, a couple of days later took me along the coast path to Dunster beach. I was only going to go to the sea front at Minehead but got a bit carried away walking along with the wind behind me, that’s the wind as in weather not the wind from me. So as I walked along past the end of the promenade, pass the golf course, and in the distance I could see the row of beach huts that face the sea at Dunster beach and thought that will be my turning point.

A fantastic location to have a beach hut on a nice day if you can afford one. After passing all the huts I took a road which headed back to Minehead. Another six mile hike done. With that and the bike ride a couple of days earlier I have had a couple of nothing days with my body aching a bit.

That was until this morning when I decided I can’t just sit still and do nothing for more than a day. So on with my walking boots and a gentle stroll down to the harbour area and back. Only three miles in total but it stretched the legs.

It was a bit gloomy down at the harbour and even started to rain while I was done there but it still looked good with the tide in and the small boats bobbing about. There was even an old canon overlooking the harbour left over from days when it would have been used to protect the harbour from invaders.

I am home alone for a week now as Nikki has gone to see Mi Mi and then to see her sister and the boys and grandkids. I have food in the fridge and takeaways down the road so I will be fine. And on Saturday the Six nations rugby starts which I love to watch. Nikki has left me instructions on how to put the tele on and find the rugby. It’s all so complicated now, two remotes, do this do that, press this press that, plug that in unplug that. I am giving myself half an hour before the game starts and if all fails that gives me enough time to get to the pub to watch it all afternoon.