My Freedom: My Treat
Mr M. decided that we would spend a little quality time together today so we donned our hats, picked up the camera and some bottles of water and departed Macey Towers at 10.02am We headed out along the M4 to the Coldra Roundabout and then along the A48 we waved as we went past the turning for Mr and Mrs Bluefunnel. They were busy so didn't wave back. We glanced at the river as we went past Chepstow and cheered with delight when we saw that the Silver Fox cafe was open for business. Short interlude for a cup of tea for Horace and coffee for Hector.
Those who have read our scrap books will know that the travelling Maceys are Hungry Horace and tired old Hector - no points for guessing which is which.
Onward and upward we went, making sure that we kicked up sufficient dust to annoy the man who put dust all over us when he arrived at the cafe. At the big roundabout we had a choice. We could go right and join the queue of traffic threading through the roadworks or we could go left and sort of head towards Ross-on-Wye. We went left.
The countryside is beautiful at this time of the year. I always think that Mother Nature is at her blousiest. Everything that can flower has flowered and the seeds and fruits are all filling and ripening. All that Oil-seed-rape has lost its acid yellow blossoms and the spikey seed-heads are turning reddish-brown so even they look quite nice. There are reddening blackberries in the hedgerows and the elder is becoming weighed down with upside-down umbrellas of green berries.
Herefordshire has many orchards and the trees are laden with fruit - the weather must have been just right this year. In another three weeks or so everything will be closer to fully ripe and then all the trees and plants start to look dusty and tired and a bit frayed around the edges. The grass verges get just too tall to stand up and the stalks lean every which way. The grasses are also drying out so they flop about and look neglected.
We turned right at Huntley while discussing how "they" managed to get planning permission to build a host of little box houses on what is a green-field site. Drove about 200 yards and managed to do a u-turn. went bak out onto the Ross Road and turned right along the correct road to go towards Newent.
We were suddenly amongst people running, yes in this weather there were mad people loose on our roads and running we had a happy time driving along with Hector taking photographs and Horace trying to pick them of..... avoid them.
As we reached Newent Hector remembered that there is something called The Shambles Victorian Museum there so we stopped and managed to park in the only bit of shade in the car-park. The shambles is the best little museum we have been to for a while. We must have been there for about an hour and a half and it cost us less than a fiver each to get in. Hector took lots of pics
http://flickr.com/photos/26949645@N04/
From there we went towards Ledbury and then changed direction slightly so that we joined the A49 at Hope-under-Dinmore. We turned right at the junction, waved to the Cadbury's factory as we headed towards our favourite stop. The OK Diner is open again!
Last year it was flooded when the severn valley was under water and it was closed until easter of this year. This is the first chance we have had to go there. Mmmmmm Hector had the steak and ribs combo and Horace had the 6oz All-the-Way Burger. With refills of tea and coffee there were two happy people munching and listening to 60s music in the all new, shiny, chrome, plastic and formica.
We waddled out to the Jeep and headed up the road towards Rhayader - because we could. We saw some beautiful houses and some fabulous cardboard cutout mountains. Even though I have never managed to catch them at it I just know that The special effects department doesn't have enough mountains to do Scotland and Wales so they use cardboard cutouts. They look really good from your side but sometimes you can see that they are flat and you just know that behind them are huge pieces of wood propping them up. They are painted to look far away but really they are ever so close. It's very good and always impresses me. We turned off the road to Rhayader and headed down towards Builth Wells travelling along a road we have never used. We still couldn't catch them out though. Special effects are darned clever.
from Builth Wells we were on familiar territory and headed towards Abergavenny and home, tired and hot but totally satisfied with a day that contained just us.
What a treat
Those who have read our scrap books will know that the travelling Maceys are Hungry Horace and tired old Hector - no points for guessing which is which.
Onward and upward we went, making sure that we kicked up sufficient dust to annoy the man who put dust all over us when he arrived at the cafe. At the big roundabout we had a choice. We could go right and join the queue of traffic threading through the roadworks or we could go left and sort of head towards Ross-on-Wye. We went left.
The countryside is beautiful at this time of the year. I always think that Mother Nature is at her blousiest. Everything that can flower has flowered and the seeds and fruits are all filling and ripening. All that Oil-seed-rape has lost its acid yellow blossoms and the spikey seed-heads are turning reddish-brown so even they look quite nice. There are reddening blackberries in the hedgerows and the elder is becoming weighed down with upside-down umbrellas of green berries.
Herefordshire has many orchards and the trees are laden with fruit - the weather must have been just right this year. In another three weeks or so everything will be closer to fully ripe and then all the trees and plants start to look dusty and tired and a bit frayed around the edges. The grass verges get just too tall to stand up and the stalks lean every which way. The grasses are also drying out so they flop about and look neglected.
We turned right at Huntley while discussing how "they" managed to get planning permission to build a host of little box houses on what is a green-field site. Drove about 200 yards and managed to do a u-turn. went bak out onto the Ross Road and turned right along the correct road to go towards Newent.
We were suddenly amongst people running, yes in this weather there were mad people loose on our roads and running we had a happy time driving along with Hector taking photographs and Horace trying to pick them of..... avoid them.
As we reached Newent Hector remembered that there is something called The Shambles Victorian Museum there so we stopped and managed to park in the only bit of shade in the car-park. The shambles is the best little museum we have been to for a while. We must have been there for about an hour and a half and it cost us less than a fiver each to get in. Hector took lots of pics
http://flickr.com/photos/26949645@N04/
From there we went towards Ledbury and then changed direction slightly so that we joined the A49 at Hope-under-Dinmore. We turned right at the junction, waved to the Cadbury's factory as we headed towards our favourite stop. The OK Diner is open again!
Last year it was flooded when the severn valley was under water and it was closed until easter of this year. This is the first chance we have had to go there. Mmmmmm Hector had the steak and ribs combo and Horace had the 6oz All-the-Way Burger. With refills of tea and coffee there were two happy people munching and listening to 60s music in the all new, shiny, chrome, plastic and formica.
We waddled out to the Jeep and headed up the road towards Rhayader - because we could. We saw some beautiful houses and some fabulous cardboard cutout mountains. Even though I have never managed to catch them at it I just know that The special effects department doesn't have enough mountains to do Scotland and Wales so they use cardboard cutouts. They look really good from your side but sometimes you can see that they are flat and you just know that behind them are huge pieces of wood propping them up. They are painted to look far away but really they are ever so close. It's very good and always impresses me. We turned off the road to Rhayader and headed down towards Builth Wells travelling along a road we have never used. We still couldn't catch them out though. Special effects are darned clever.
from Builth Wells we were on familiar territory and headed towards Abergavenny and home, tired and hot but totally satisfied with a day that contained just us.
What a treat