Have you noticed that one moment we are enjoying late summer and without really noticing Autumn has crept up on you. Nights draw in and temperature drops. Last week I was playing cricket in warm sunshine and this weekend it was cycling with a jacket on because of a cold biting North Wind. It even started me wondering when I will swap from bike mitts to gloves on the bike!! Lights will soon need to be fixed to the bike.

I rode with pals on Friday in that wind around the Malvern area. Today Clare and I rode round the lanes to enjoy coffee and cake in Dursley. This has given me an idea for a poem which I made a start on and will try and develop this week!

Disappointed by the lacklustre derby match yesterday, certainly lacked blood and thunder and the Hatters lost so it was painful one to take!

My old man’s cycling group met today up near Malvern and we a great pedal around a different area. Wind was a real problem and as we crossed the common we got a real buffeting. Depending on if the rules stay the same we are aiming to meet up for a ride every fortnight or so. It does mean I have done well over 4.000 miles this year.

Managed to do some writing yesterday on a story I started when we visited Cuba and I have only worked with on occasions over the last three years.

The big match for us tomorrow a local derby with no crowd! We are certainly the underdogs but fingers crossed! I do manage to watch all the games at the moment online.  Up the Hatters!!!!!!

A Johnny Cash song for today’s title just to reflect the state of my body! Final game of cricket yesterday against Somerset and a really active one for me. It didn’t start well when a ball shot through me for four-I pride myself on my fielding and that was poor moment. Later I managed my customary dives and chases to the boundary but pride was hurting! In fact the whole team had an off day in the field and we faced chasing 247 in our forty overs. We finished 10 runs short and I was chuffed with my quick fire 45 that had us in contention, my team mates were incensed on my behalf by the run out decision that sent me packing! My body is suffering after my efforts!

I forgot to mention last week’s bird survey in Frampton. Once again we were able to witness a Bore it is always a magical moment and it flushed many birds including Knot, Ruff, Whimbrel, Pintail and various gulls including 3 Mediterranean Gulls. Two Great White Egrets and six Little Egrets were on the land side . We watched a Kingfisher which is always a special  treat.

The virus shows no sign of abating and you do hope this incompetent law breaking government might start to give consistent and clear messages instead of blaming everyone else when things go wrong! It does mean it is unlikely that I will be Story Telling in front of a live audience any time soon! I think I will spend the next few months learning new stories and maybe writing new ones as well.

I thought my team gave a good account of themselves last night and it was a pity we gave away a penalty because I thought we had looked comfortable until then.

I am talking sport particularly the Tour de France! An amazing ride today to give Pogacar the final yellow jersey. Not sure if anyone saw that coming! It is surprises like this that gives sport the drama to enthral us!

I went for a long thoroughly enjoyable ride this morning over the Cotswolds. Always enjoy finding roads I have never cycled before. I made sure I got back in time for a shower before settling down to watch the football. Another excellent result for the mighty Hatters. Looking forward to playing Manchester Utd on Tuesday!

Finishing off the sporting day a couple of pictures from Thursday “international”. Well Gloucestershire Oldies playing cricket against Wales Oldies!!! It was at Abergavenny   Cricket Club -a picturesque setting.

A funny sort of day here in Frampton! Quite a bit of clearing up from last week-like cleaning the awning and trying to dry it out. Many other little odd jobs as well A delightful two hour cycle ride up and down the hills around Stroud–not quite the monster climb on today’s Tour! I have currently ridden 3,950 miles for the year so I am on course for my target of 5,000 miles for the year which will be a first for me.

Busy day tomorrow an early start for our monthly bird survey out by the Severn. After a quick cuppa I am off to play cricket against Wales at Abergavenny Cricket Club. Quite excited by this venue as Glamorgan have played games here.

Tired after a long and busy sporting day. I played cricket against Warwickshire and we won for a change! I did a lot of running in the field so the body aches and I also saw us home with the bat.

I rushed home to watch my team win again in the League Cup and we now play Manchester United at home next week. COYH!!!!!!!

I met Jane Fryer the local artist today to look at her illustrations for my new story currently called “Pig the Legend”. There are great and have captured the characters well, you never know I might put one in a future blog to whet your appetite! Still not sure about the title so watch this space! Jane did the illustrations for “Don’t Look At Me Like That”.

I promised you news of a Frampton visitor. Below is a picture I took on my phone of the Great White Egret in one of our village ponds. For those of you who are not sure about Egrets-the Little Egret is the one most of us will see across the country. They starting arriving into Britain about 30 or 40 years ago . Cattle Egrets common in Africa have started to breed in the South West – there are currently a few around the WWT in Slimbridge. Great Whites are now turning up in the South West I have seen four in the area over the last year. So for one to turn up on a village pond of all places is quite something! Apologies for picture quality but it was taken on my phone while sitting on my bike!  

The title is just an excuse for me to put a couple of pictures into the blog that  I took when we were away! I said we were near Morecambe Bay however we moved inland to around the Forest of Bowland a beautiful part of the world, another one of our favourite places to visit. On the drive there we stopped at the Ribblehead Viaduct on the famous Settle to Carlisle Railway. Luckily a train  crossed over while we were there. Many years ago when our lads were quite small and our David had a love of trains we did push the boat out and took them on the train. You don’t get that good a view of the viaduct from the train!

Tomorrow I promise I will blog about stories (should have some news as well). I will also mention  an unexpected but welcome visitor to Frampton! 

I mentioned we camped in Silverdale. We have been going to this area for many years because it is ideally placed for visiting one of our favourite bird reserves Leighton Moss. We always park up and use our bikes to get around. Sadly because of the world we live in only four hides were open. The day we went to the two hides near Morecambe Bay (one of them is named after a famous Hatter Eric Morecambe) we did get a right soaking! The pictures below are typical of the Bay. One is the view across to Grange Over Sands (we cycled back the 20+ miles  from there one day-we caught the train out!) The other is one of the many Curlews on the extensive miles and miles of mud. More pictures to follow in future  blogs over the next few days.

Must mention the football today. What a start to the season for the Mighty Hatters. As there can’t be any crowds for some time I am able to watch the games on the internet and we won with a real cracker today!

Apologies for no blog for over a week! We have been away “Up North” in our wonderful camper van Cedric. We stayed at our favourite campsite in Silverdale and it is true that lots of people are doing a staycation because the campsite was full and this when the schools went back. Weather was mixed but the break did us the power of good.

Will blog more about our adventures over the weekend-hopefully with one or two pictures.