A Little Rain.

Mostly warm today with a few brief showers in the afternoon.

I went out early and had a decent session working in the garden while it was still cool. As I cleared soil away from the middle of the wall/narrow raised bed I started coming across coal and coal dust which had been dumped deep inside the bed. I ended up removing a whole bucketful of quite sizeable lumps of coal before coming across some big rocks which had also been used as infill.

Then came another new venture, volunteering with the local RDA (Riding for the Disabled) group. Over 30 years ago I used to teach several groups for the RDA and once I heard there was a group not too far from here I thought it might be a good opportunity to have a little involvement with horses again. The local group runs from a stables only 20 minutes drive from here and I'm even thinking about going out for an occasional ride too if my back and knees can manage it. It's about half the price it was in Devon and I've heard good things about the horses and stables.

The stables are close to the River Rheidol, which we saw at Devil's Bridge and as I had done my usual thing of giving myself plenty of time to get there I stopped and took some photos of the river.

Down in the fast flowing river were great rafts of water crowsfoot.

This was the first of a number of crossings I made over the railway line for the Vale of Rheidol steam train we had seen at Devil's Bridge. No warning lights or barriers and the other two crossings were even simpler, just a sign saying watch out for the train. One of those crossings had a steep slope up to it and I couldn't see down the track. I drove over as quickly as possible. I saw the train later and it does emit plenty of warning hoots.

The other volunteers were very welcoming and seem like a nice group of people. They only use two ponies in the indoor school. Today they had two little boys riding and two girls who came only to watch though they will ride the next time they come. Things have changed a lot since I was teaching. Then I would have 4 or 5 children riding and it was run more like an standard riding lesson but with more fun exercises and two helpers with each pony. Now there are three helpers for each child and a lot of equipment for manual dexterity and general education. Things like flags on sticks, balls, bean bags, buckets for putting things in, wooden shapes to post, wooden fish to hook, pictures of dogs to match to national flags and much more. The children work individually and afterwards in a debrief session notes are made of each child's progress. We don't have to tack the ponies up or untack them at the end but I did get to walk one pony, Pip round to her stable and swap the RDA headcollar with the stable's headcollar.

Afterwards I swung by town and did some food shopping at Morrisons. Not the best time as I co-incided with the end of the school day and I got stuck in a couple of traffic jams. I also filled the car up. It must be a sign of the times when I didn't even blink when it cost almost £50 to fill up our tiny car.