You can't always get what you want, .....

Tonight I went to a site meeting in Brimscombe to view the progress of the restoration of the Stroudwater canal. It opened in 1777, linking the Thames with the River Severn and our section runs down the Golden Valley, being fed by its neighbour the River Frome. It was abandoned in 1954.

Now a massive project is underway to re-open it in stages, and the first stage runs through Stroud, literally a couple of hundred yards down the road. I had high hopes for a grand blip, but the evening's poor light and lack of really notable images, has left me annoyed, mostly with myself for not having a back-up.

This morning was so different, with sharp frost and the seemingly horizontal sunlight illuminating the springline houses. They mark the line taken by the old road running along the side of the valley above Bowbridge, which stayed drier than the valley bottoms. I found Bomble on the window-sill, looking out at the view, and before going to feed him, I thought I will just test the camera in these conditions.

Looking across Golden Valley, the mist and smoke was following the contours of the coombes, the river in its valley and of course the canal. So this early morning picture will just have to do and it annoys me. My first day of blipping when I've felt I wish I had done much, much better.