Back to the norm of sitting in front of the computer. Well, the weather gods smiled on us this weekend as it is freezing cold on Monday morning as we do those important going-home chores (such as emptying the loo). A stop in Banbury at lunch-time and it hasn't warmed

After looking at all that water we thought an evening visit to the pub a must. So we wandered round and mentioned to everyone we could find that Liz and I would lead an expeditionary force at 1830. Ten or so of is strode in, found a long table with

There's such a lot of ducks to see. An ornithological afternoon. Rather than head towards the hurly-burly of the water park we opted for the opposite direction to some bird hides. Good it was too: Shellduck, Teal, Pochard, Cormorant, Gadwall, GoldenEye, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Little Egret, Cormorant, Lapwing,

Hurry up Harry, come on Well the poor pub probably doesn't get coach loads too often. After working up a thirst on our cycle ride Liz and I decided on an expeditionary force manoeuvre to arrive at the pub first and have a quiet pint in the lull before the

First the obligatory wildlife shot. Trouble is a camera phone with 6x zoom doesn't cut it. Anyway a Great Crested Grebe wasn't too far from shore. However, the park's guardian is a much larger bird Anyone reading my Facebook page will remember that I posted that this summer is the

The small motorhomers have obviously appeased the weather gods as the weekend weather is beautiful. Clear skies; last night was as starlit as the light polluted Midlands gets and this morning the sun would be streaming in to the van if Liz were awake and I opened the sunlight blind.

Yes, it's Small Motorhomes Forum (SMF) meet time again. This first spring meet is, as usual, at Kingsbury Water Park, just NE of Birmingham. Getting here wasn't bad, although the satnav insisted on the both the closed A6, and the tangle of junctions around the M42/M6 toll. One day

* [x] In the CAMRA Good Beer Guide * [x] a choice of real ales * [x] local beers (LocAle) * [x] good food * [x] cheap food * [x] allow overnight stays in their car park All will be revealed later (Oh, you little tease Brian) but first: The road less travelled or, to be