Misty hillsides along the Golden Valley

Another glorious cold start to the day with mist abounding. They began to slowly clear after 9am and I watched as the various banks of the mist slid down the hillsides from the top of the commons.

One of my favourite views is of the frosty ancient hollow way on the sloping ridge in the foreground. It was an old 'weg', with the former farm just out of sight slightly up the ridge to the left which was called 'Weyhouse'. It was demolished in the 1950s. The frost and the stark shadows start to reveal the shape of the incised hollow way.. Many local people have no idea of its history. It almost certainly existed in Iron Age times, as it would take people down off the flat 'tops' of the Cotswolds to cross the sticky clay valley bottom of the River Frome at Bow bridge, and then up the other hillside to the camp on what is now known as Rodborough Common