Fromebanks seen from the ruins of Capel's Mill

I took the car to have new wheel bearings fitted early this morning and then enjoyed a breakfast snack in the nearby Waitrose cafe whilst waiting for the CAB to open. I then went there to get advice on my rights regarding the computer problems I'm still having, and which are getting exceedingly tiresome. They were very helpful but couldn't actually do much for me. I will have to do it for myself.

Eventually I returned home on foot, and mulled over my options which I will initiate tomorrow. In the middle of the afternoon I got a call from the garage owner to say the car was ready, so I headed down the hill and then along the valley taking a short bus ride in the middle of the route.

My route on foot came close to the canal and river at Capel's Mill so I decided to take a detour there for a short break by the river. It was very calming hearing the fast flowing water tumbling over the old mill race, all that is left of the old Capel's Mill complex nw sited underneath the high arches of the railway viaduct. Regular viewers of my blips will know how much I like being there and seeing the wildlife close at hand. Today I saw no kingfishers nor white-thoated dippers, which are so often busying themselves at that spot. I watched a wagtail for a short time but my pictures were very dark in the shadowy light under the arches. It might have helped if I'd remembered I had a polarising filter on that lens, which certainly didn't help!

Just before I was readying to go on to pick up the car i had two brief interludes with two different groups of people. K. was visiting Stroud from Birmingham, with his friend, and had come to the river by chance. He had exactly the same camera as me and similar lenses so we had a good chat and I pointed out some of the delights of the area. They then moved on and two more people passed by and we engaged in conversation about kingfishers and dippers. I mentioned to both pairs that if they looked at this journal they could see some fo the wildlife I had blipped from there. By the time I came to write this, I see that 'I' has become a new follower, so I would like to say hello to them all.

Just before I left I took this picture looking downstream when standing on the old stones, of what is left of original mill race. Fromebanks is now a nature reserve and rather a wonderful and idyllic place t have no more than four hundred yards from the town centre.