Gloucester & Sharpness canal, Wednesday 12th August
Having managed a mega breakfast(me)and a standard one(Myra) in the Gloucester indoor market cafe, we staggered to the bus station, where we caught the Stagecoach service 31 to Cinderford. I am used to various notices, some informative, some in my opinion puerile, on their buses. However, until today I had remained blissfully unaware of the serious health hazards to which I could be exposing myself by using this company. I was about to occupy a seat when my attention was diverted by reading the question posed by a notice on the window: ‘Are you running the risk of infection from Hepatitus C?
I immediately chose another seat; whatever next, will the driver have a supply of surgical gloves, masks and wet wipes? I know that Ann Gloag, one of the founders of the company was a theatre sister in Dundee, but honestly!
The journey passes through beautiful countryside and we had occasional glimpses of the places that we had visited next to the Goucester and Sharpness canal.
Cinderford is a nice small town situated high in, and surrounded by, the Royal Forest of Dean. I was in the habit of calling in to a bakery when in the area on deliveries as they produced wonderful lardy cakes. A local informant told me that that bakery closed some 7 years ago, and in her opinion, the new bakers version is not as good.
Well, Cinderford may not have good lardy cakes, but they are more fortunate than a lot of small towns in that they have a thriving cinema, in the original building.
A reasonable selection of locally owned shops, but the inevitable few that seem to have been recently closed and boarded up.
2009 Totals: 420 Locks – 781 miles – 22 Bus pass uses.
