Yellow at Gloucester Docks

Kate and I had an unexpectedly crazy night last night (more later when I manage to back blip) so it is to our credit that we managed to get up and on the road before 9am today.

Kate had to return the car to Preston, Lancs, where she lives, by 1pm, and I was going climbing in Gloucester, so she took me in to the city centre and then headed off to the M5 with her daughter, Jezzie. I was sad that it had been such a short visit, and that we hadn't had time to do everything, such as taking Jezzie climbing, but it was great to see them both, no matter how briefly.

My head was in a whirl after the events of last night, but I did manage to climb a challenging wall, my first overhang, and have decided to go again on Thursday, as I can't go next weekend. We climbed first and then went to the bouldering room, which meant I was too tired to make much of an effort by the time we reached the boulders. I think I prefer real Scottish boulders to the plasticky ones, though obviously they don't come with mattresses underneath!

Before I went indoors, I had half an hour to wander around the renovated Gloucester docks ( the Gloucester and Sharpness canal terminates here, and until the 1960s was a viable waterway for the transportation of goods such as coal from the West to the Midlands. It is Britain's most inland port). I noticed a yellow model boat cruising around the basin, but could not see who was controlling it. The boat moored on the left was also yellow....

I do like the docks and the Quays shopping centre, and try to get there whenever I am in Gloucester. It's a great place to chill out by the water, or to grab a coffee and watch the world going by.