St Cyr's church, Stonehouse

My friend Elspeth from Glenfarg is staying with me in Stroud. I've got very far behind with blips...

This morning looked bright, so we set off from Bowbridge along the restored Thames and Severn canal towards Capel's mill, a Stroud beauty spot where the river Frome flows under the railway viaduct.

From there we detoured into town, to visit the Shambles market, where I often have a stall. Later, we headed back to the canal at Brewery bridge, and walked to 'the ocean', a small body of water at Stonehouse. The restored canal hasn't yet been joined up with the network at Saul.Junction. At Stonehouse, about four miles from where we set off at Bowbridge, the weather was fine, and we admired St Cyr's church, as well as having a drink in the beautiful grounds of the Stonehouse court hotel.

Eventually Steve drove up to meet us, and we took a windy walk along the edge of the Cotswold escarpment at Cowley Peak. Before long we were back at the house, where Steve cooked up a fab fish pie for supper.