From Painswick Beacon

CleanSteve has written about our meeting with HerbSusan and our circular trip of the Slad and Painswick valleys. This is our last stop, at the top of Painswick Beacon, an Iron Age hill fort. I've been here many times and blipped too, but the view westwards towards the river Severn was wonderful today, though the light was fleeting. I took the 50D today, and let HerbSusan play with my Olympus compact, as she had not brought a camera.

Later, at home, I chopped down some Sycamore saplings that were growing out of our front fence, and rebagged several bags of soil, then put them in the wheelbarrow because they were too heavy to take anywhere else. I put away some old tarps and threw away some stinky rotten stuff, and finally trimmed a few brambles back. Then I rushed in to make toast for supper, and to change for climbing. My colleague Lea Anne climbed with us tonight, and is a lot faster and more skilled than I am, though she is easing back into it after a four-and-a-half year gap!

Eileen gave me a fab furry 'sporran"/chalk bag to stop my hands slipping on the sweaty grips, and we had a good-enough session though I still need to gain confidence. Once I get my first pair of climbing shoes and no longer have to rent them, and start paying monthly instead of per session, I will try to go climbing more often, so that I can make more progress. I do wish I had a climbing wall at home!