Sloe Trip

South out of the city along the Whitchurch Railway Path, the route once taken by coal up from the Somerset Levels, towards Maes Fort, an Iron Age settlement occupied by Celts around 500 BC.


Up the hill in bright midday sun, glancing back to see the city behind me, the Clifton Suspension Bridge in the far distance.At first I thought that I must have been too early - or too late - for sloes this year, but then I found some and picked just under a kilo, plus a few blackberries.


Explored the fort and the triangulation point, marking 199 metres above sea level. Meet you here when the floods come !



Made my way back down to the oak tree where I'd left my bike, to find the field now full of cows. Had to skirt around the side of the field, hop over a fence and scramble up a bank, rather than meet a bull or protective mother. I'm sure that cattle are much less used to humans these days, or maybe it's all the hormone injections that make them more aggressive than they used to be.



This way, that way, following the Samaritan Way for a bit. Passed through Stanton Drew, Norton Malreward and Chew Magna



Lazed at the edge of a field, found running water in a cattle trough.



Finally some sunshine to ripen the harvest, though apparently the worst in living memory. I'd suggest a bit more mixed agriculture and a little less cattle.


Peaceful, except for the occasional plane heading for the airport.

Found myself at Chew Valley Lake, opened by Liz & Phil in 1956.

Then back up hills, gears crunching, gathered acorns, freewheeled downhill under the viaduct at Pensford.


Crossed the main road and headed towards Publow.



Great paddling spot, right next to Publow church, the bridge repaired since my last visit.



Then it all went horribly wrong ! I should have heeded the omen of the dead rabbit on the bonnet of a parked car, the unfortunate half badger by the side of the road. I couldn't work out how to get back to Whitchurch, despite having an old map and navigating by the sun and from memory most of the day. I ended up in Keynsham but couldn't find the cyclepath to Bristol, despite praying to Bill Bailey & Marcus Trescothick. I got to Hanham as the light was fading. I'd been out for seven hours and it would be dark in half an hour. I got even more lost. I'd been vaguely lost all day, but unconcerned. Now I was getting anxious. I followed a sign to Avon Valley Woodland and disappeared down a dark trail smelling of balsam flowers. Ahead, there was something familiar about a treeline. I'd stumbled on the River Avon and the familiar path upstream from the boathouse at a bend in the river. It was still another few miles cycle home, through clouds of gnats, past Polish fishermen and teenage paddlers to the last hill, my shoulders tight and aching, mouth parched.

Home for a nice cuppa. Sloes in the freezer. 30 mile round trip.

Flower 'n' Veg Stall

Filled a rucksack with produce today, including carrots, kale, sweetcorn, runner beans, a pumpkin, raspberries, apples, sunflowers, sweet peas, cornflowers and mint.



The sweetcorn's not fully ripened and I wonder if it will, this late in the year.



Still worth eating, if only to save it from the next badger visit.

Full Roast

Alarmed to see a fire engine outside Wogan's coffee warehouse today when I popped along for my organic fairtrade fix. The chimney, responsible for the heavenly pongs which drift across the city, had caught fire earlier. All the staff stood outside, while Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub peered up the hot, caffeine-blackened tube. Thankfully, the damage was only minor and they were open for business not long afterwards, although a nearby sweep was set to work scrubbing away the full roast remains.

Harvest Fayre

Beetroot, courgettes, celery, spinach & chard all in abundance.

Cycling City ?

Bristol, a cycling city.

Black Hole

Help ! Am I the only one it got ?

Minny Ha Ha

Checked out lots of old Stewart Lee & Richard Herring I missed from 1991-94 on YouTube, plus newer stuff. Priceless. Added new links.

Rat Race

This one lost.

Leucocyte

A friend lent me a preview of 'Leucocyte' by the Esbjorn Svensson Trio which has some great treated piano moments. Marcin Wasilewski, if you're out there me ol' mucker, get it touch, prosze bardzo, i'd love to mix you up !
Esbjorn Svensson Trio

New Threat To Cyclepath

'Squarepeg', the developers of the old chocolate factory in Greenbank, want to rip these trees and verge up to build houses fronting onto the cyclepath.





Register your objections NOW ! Deadline 8th Sept.:
greenbankchocolatefactory.co.uk

...and with the council, later this month.

Sweet Peas/Tomato Blight

Despite - or because of - a late start, there are still sweet peas around at home and up the plot. Oh for smellyvision !



I can't reach these runner beans without a ladder, so they're fattening nicely for seed, eventually.



Lots of sunflowers - giant & multi headed - for the bees to enjoy now, the birds later.



It's not all coming up roses though - a lot of the tomatoes seem to have blight and I haven't had much of a crop.

Nolana Bluebird

It's taken an age, but the Nolana Bluebird has finally flowered.

Raspberries

A good raspberry crop this year from my own, relatively young bushes. I pop them straight into a sealed freezer bag to keep them fresh, before scoffing, stewing or freezing them.

Sweetcorn

Despite the dismal lack of sunshine this month, a few sweetcorn have ripened, which I managed to harvest before the badgers found them. Yummy ; )

Cucumber

One of three cucumbers grown in a small plastic greenhouse at home.

Bean Seeds

Collected a couple of dozen borlotti and broad beans from the dried pods for next year's seed.

Hawkmoth Caterpillar

At first glance, I thought it was a slug amongst the evening primrose, but in fact, a hawk moth caterpillar, possibly elephantine.

Harvest

Cobra beans - some are totally green, others mottled & some completely black.



Still lots of redcurrants around, but only a few plums after last year's glut.



More runner beans than I can cope with. Saving the larger ones for seed.



The sweetcorn's coming along. A neighbouring plot was raided by badgers.

Badger Raid

One of the neighbouring plots got visited by hungry badgers.



Maybe they were disappointed, after my prize specimens last year ; )



They left a calling card.

Windfalls

Not sure what type they are, but these windfall cooking apples are delicious and plentiful at the moment and need collecting and stewing before they rot.

Shine On Me

Got several capsicum plants like this - ta Mr G - but they all need a bit of sun to ripen.



At 35p per seed, about the price of a shop bought cucumber, I'm happy that this plant's got several small fruit on it.



Not much chance of these olives ripening, but one year soon, who knows ?



The tomatoes in open ground at the allotment have grown well but not ripened, ones in a greenhouse at home haven't cropped as well, but have ripened earlier.Natch.

Frogwatch

Saw two frogs today, but only managed to photograph this tiny one by the pond. The other was in the garage at home, of all places, looking a frightening grey/black colour and startling me as I picked up a bin bag on which he was sitting. I'm guessing that he was the healthy green one I'd seen in the garden last week and he could have crept in there when the door was left open recently (though it's a bit early to hibernate) and changed his appearance to suit his surroundings. I put him outside in the undergrowth and hope he might get his colour back and pop up again soon, bored felines permitting.

A pity my carrots haven't done as well as the beetroot, even though they're just thinnings, they all seem to have some degree of carrot root fly damage. Loads more beans, chard, kale and spinach and the first ripened tomatoes too.

Showers & Gusty Squalls

Showers, gusty squalls and sunny intervals. Found myself humming 'Four Seasons In One Day' by the Finn brothers, as I pottered around the plot this morning. All that free wind energy going to waste.



One moment I was taking my shirt off in the hot sunshine, the next I was running for shelter in the shed.



Harvested kale seeds. It was a while before I noticed that they have two channels of seeds on each side of the pod. I've saved myself a packet - of seeds : )



The first of the autumn raspberries to ripen - so large that at first I thought it might have been a loganberry.

Harvested more peas, kale, a few small carrots and the first of the climbing beans. Tied up some of the giant sunflowers which had either fallen over or were in danger of doing so.

080808 State

I harvested a couple of buds from each artichoke to eat earlier in the year and now the remaining flowers are all open, still attracting bees and comments from passers by.



Gladioli don't last very long, especially if they're thrashed around a Top Of The Pops studio by Morrissey, or in the rain, so I took nearly half of them home to enjoy indoors.



Way too many runner beans to cope with at the moment and the freezer's filling up.



Sunflower season's here - some single and giant, some multi headed. The big uns are reaching 10 ft.

Il pleut encore

Flippin' 'eck Tucker ! It's set to rain every day for the next couple of weeks - and beyond. At least I won't have to water anything up at the allotment, except for the cucumbers and tomatoes in the mini greenhouse.

Les Fleurs

Identify This !

OK. Your starter for 15 points : Identify this moth.
(The answer is not 'onion moth')
I thought it might have been a 'Silver Y', but it doesn't quite match.
Perhaps it's a 'poplar hawk moth', which research tells me should possibly be called a 'popular hawk moth'.

UK moths site