A canal side walk up the Golden Valley

We have had a tranquil and delightful Sunday outing, walking up the Golden Valley alongside the Thames and Severn canal to Chalford. At the end of the route was a pit-stop at Lenny and Andrew's house which backs onto the River Frome, which the canal accompanies. We haven't seen them since last autumn, so it was great to have time to sit and chat, whilst wild ducks came up the garden path to demand feeding. Andrew did a wonderful job of installing our patio windows just over a year ago, which have transformed our house and life here in Stroud.

Along the way we found massive goose and duck eggs for sale beside the towpath. Many ducks were surprisingly fearless in their approach to us in their constant quest for food.

Old industrial buildings sit close by dwellings old and new. The valley bottom is only about fifty yards wide and encompasses the canal and towpath, the railway to London, the winding river, the narrow road through the village and of course the many terraces of cottages on the south-facing slopes, which are the remnants of cloth weavers houses dating from the sixteenth century. Many of these hillside dwellings are now only accessible by zig-zagging paths, which used to be served by the Chalford donkeys, which hauled any loads up to the houses. A couple of years ago someone in the village brought a donkey back into service for the villagers.

We saw quite a few flowering plants both in gardens and beside the water of the river and canal. There were even some of my favourite white Wild Garlic flowers nestling deep in the shade of the trees. Helena also managed to find a second-hand book stall at the end of the village on the roadside, which did of course mean that we had to spend some money for charity.

But it was the colour of these plants, which I assume are types of Iris, which caught my eye when we passed them in the middle of the abandoned canal. I think they are so vivid because of the warming effect of the water which has brought them into growth very early, despite the deep shade. Helena liked them too and said that my other pictures of pretty hillside houses, ducks and geese, and riverside gardens full of wildlife are two-a-penny round here. She is after all a very important spotter of blip opportunities for me.