The last few days at Cirencester were cold and dry, then damp, Misty and drizzly. I prefer the cold days out of the two but would much prefer to have some sun on my back.

I went for a nice long walk on one of the frosty days, up through the Bathurst estate and across the field’s, all in all about six miles. Saw some deer and a red kite, that’s a bird not a pice of plastic with a string attached to it held by a small child. The clouds as I set of were interesting.

The frozen fauna was interesting, called old man’s beard and funnily enough by the time I got back from my frosty walk I had ice in my beard. I felt like an artic explorer. The next day was also cold and started with a loverly sunrise while most peaple were still tucked up in bed.

The last week at Cirencester I was also home alone. Nikki had gone off to see her sister for two weeks leaving me to fend for myself. Luckily she had gone shopping before she left. Because she took the car any shopping I needed I had to walk a mile to the shop and carry it all back in my rucksack another mile. So I thought If I walk to the shop I might as well walk to the pub, eat in the pub and walk back. That would save me carrying a rucksack full of food and possibly hurting my back.

I arranged to meet some friends in a pub in Cirencester, I have known them for 40+ years and they only live about half an hours drive from Cirencester. So a time and place was arranged.

I got there early and walked into the pub and it was full of kids and very noisy and they never served Guinness so I walked out, messaged my friends and said change of venue. Good pub, good Guinness and good food. Everyone happy. Was really good to catch up with them.

Time to move on to Broadway. I packed the camper up and headed out on the road for the trip of nearly an hour north and into Worcester and to another Cotswold village.

Broadway is a beautiful place with all the Cotswold stone buildings and nice old shops etc. But is very expensive and touristy but at this time of year there are less peaple about. The site we are on is right next to a railway line which is not used in the winter and when in use it’s a steam train that runs. So you get a good view from certain places on the site because it literally runs along side the top half of the site.

I wanted to walk up to the Broadway tower from site. I had no choice really because Nikki had the car but I need the exercise anyway. The tower is a 18th century folly built of limestone and ashlar, four storeys high. Twenty metres high and is hexagonal with three corner turrets. It opened in 1799. From the site to walk to it and back is five miles including a hill so an elevation of 814 ft was covered. I plan to do the walk again and make a bigger loop of it.

You really need a clear day to appreciate the view from the top.

I got up to the tower at 8.45am so no one else was about. It was so peaceful. There were a herd of deer in the field next to the tower, a kestrel did a fly pass and a little Robin came and said hello.

As I walked back down the hill, much easier than going up, I walked through the village and gazed in the shop windows at stuff I could not afford. I went and bought a lotto ticket so you never know I might be able to go back and buy something after the weekend.

The Broadway Deli shop looked fantastic with its display outside and a fiat 500 in the window. A proper sweet shop with jar after jar full of all your old favourite sweets and a drinks shop which I took a lot of interest in so will have to go back for further investigation. I am sure when Nikki gets back we will walk into the village and she will want to go in the charity shops. Being a very rich area the charity shops are normally full of better quality cloths etc and don’t smell of wee.

So that’s us up to date, only a short blog but hope you enjoyed it. I am home alone until Sunday when Nikki comes home, hopefully via a supermarket to save my poor back. As I write this storm Eowyn is blowing and has been all night but everything is still as it should be. I think looking at the weather forecast there is even some sunshine due. At least we are heading in the right direction towards spring and the days are drawing out. Stay safe out there.

Happy new year to you all and thank you for reading my blog and I hope you continue to enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. It’s been going for a while now and to be honest I only started it for myself so I have a reminder of places we have been, things we have done etc.

So as we start the new year we are still in Cirencester.

After taking photos of the fox feeding at night I saw him a couple of times in the daylight and really wanted to get photos of him in the daylight. A bit of patience and it paid off.

As you can see he is very healthy. Over the next few days he was always about in the day but very wary of people but it was so nice to see him in the daylight.

Xmas came and went, not as fast as I would have liked but it’s over now. I don’t like Xmas for a lot of reasons. It’s too commercial being one of the main reasons. Boxing Day we decided to go for a walk in the Bathurst estate grounds completely forgetting the Boxing Day hunt would be on. We wondered why so many people were out walking towards the town.

The hunt is what they call a drag hunt, no it’s not a load of drag queens out on a jolly around the countryside. It’s where a scented cloth is dragged along and then they follow it. As with all hunts there are protesters who are against it and while walking along one of these latched on to me and started asking what I thought.

My reply was as much as I don’t like cruelty to animals hunting is a tradition which has been going on for many years and will continue to. We turned off from the main event and walked around the back streets where there were some lovely old shops with matching names.

Our friends on site mentioned about going into town one lunchtime for a beer. There is a lovely little bar called the Hop Kettle. It’s a small brewery from Swindon who brew their own beer and have a great selection to choose from. Not being one to turn down the offer of a pint we strolled into town with them.

By the time we came out of there it was dark, not because it was late but because it gets dark early. Our friends left before us but I had to have another beer. As we walked up through the town towards home I was getting hungry and wanted to stop at every opportunity to eat but I resisted as Nikki was going to cook a quick meal when we got back. The market square was empty, just the lovely H van which is a coffee stall in the daytime.

For over a week the weather was really murky and damp which I hate along with wind and rain. My bike has not been out for a couple of months which for me is a lifetime. It’s just so difficult living like this in the winter when I come back from a ride covered in mud and the bike has to be washed off before being put away. I lose my MoJo at this time of year and just wish I could hibernate and wake up in the spring.

New Year’s Eve was another damp night and again glad it’s all over now and we are heading for better weather, not straight away but we’re going in that direction. Think positive.

On New Year’s Day Nikki’s mum was 90. She is in a care home in Devon and they made her a lovely cake and made sure she had a wonderful time. We rang her to wish her happy birthday and she seemed a bit confused with the whole thing.

As the mist and damp weather went it turned to cold frosty weather but brighter days. I like them, so on with my hiking boots and off across the fields for a hike. Through the Bathurst estate and out into open countryside where I don’t see anyone and just hear the bird song.

Passing ivy lodge which is in the grounds of the Bathurst estate, which you can hire out for weddings etc. It’s recently been restored but you need a lot of money if you want to hire it out. I made do with a photo of it.

As I did a big loop on my walk I came back from the fields into the Bathurst estate again and went up to a pond I like which was all frozen. Ivy house was in the distance. Passing some frozen thistles which looked nice. I was tempted to skate on the ice on the pond but with thin ice and my weight decided against it. I don’t like being cold and being cold and wet is even worse.

We were due to go to Moreton in Marsh when we left Cirencester but got a phone call from the site saying they were having some work done on site and it would be noisy. We decided to still go and shorten our stay, so we went there for a couple of days and then came back here to Cirencester yesterday.

While there we walked into the town which is a typical Cotswold old town. Really nice with nice old buildings and expensive shops. We had lunch in a small cafe. To be honest I could have stayed in there all day. The service and food were excellent. The market was on in the square but it was not very good mainly stalls selling big knickers and rugs and a few independent ones. Back at the site the workers were ripping up the roads and it was like being on a building site. We were glad we went to moreton in marsh but glad to leave at the same time. It’s only an hours drive each way.

Nikki goes off to see her sister in a weeks time leaving me home alone. She has promised to stock the fridge up before she goes but Cirencester is a good place for me to be on my own without a car. I have fields to wander around, I have trees to talk to and pubs nearby and a hopefully a fridge full of food. And I have Google to see how to cook the food.

I leave here in a couple of weeks while Nikki is away to go to Broadway which is where Nikki will come back to join me. Broadway is another old Cotswold town but we have never been before so will be nice to see it and there are some nice walks from there.