Dusk over the Severn Vale from Prinknash Abbey

I had a long trip to Cheltenham with various stops to buy a new hard drive, booze, vegetables, bird seed, cat food and even broad bean  and tiny spring cabbage seedlings. 

On the way home the A46 climbs up from the Severn Vale. where Cheltenham is sited, and over the Cotswold Hills escarpment. Just before it reaches to the top of the slope I pulled off the road into the drive down the hill into Prinknash Abbey, which I knew would give a good view looking south-west out of the Vale towards the Forest of Dean and South Wales. Helena used to work at the Abbey for a short while and I used to drive her there and always admired this view.

The wind was strong tonight and freezing, so I got out of the car and took just a couple of snaps. The resulting images have produced slightly strange colours in the fading light in the sky. I think there might be an influence from the City of Gloucester lying just behind the big hill in the centre of the picture. I wonder whether the very cold weather has created a smog effect which when it rises affects the colours as the slanted light shines on the misty areas closer to the ground.

The hill behind Gloucester is called May Hill and it lies on the west side of the River Severn. It has a very distinctive clump of trees, which you might just be able to see above the horizon, that are growing over the earthworks on the top of the hill.