…and hips, and berries, and sloes, and crab apples, and other seasonal things (autumn crocuses are also known as naked ladies, apparently, as they come up without any leaves). A walk on a warm and sunny autumn afternoon – the last, I suspect, for a while.
Somewhere we’d never been – though we’ve driven past within a mile often enough. It’s a folly, marking the second-highest point on the Cotswolds. It wasn’t a walk, though it’s on the Cotswold Way, and we did walk the mile or so along the much quieter grassy edge to the top of the main road – the unexpectedly-named “Fish Hill” – and back. The tower is busy, but few venture beyond. The views are extensive – we could just make out the Wrekin, 55 miles to the north-west, and the Black Mountains earned their descriptive name when seen from the English side, with the sun behind them – again, more than 50 miles distant.
Broadway Tower on Wikipedia
It looked like its galloping days were well and truly over when I saw it in Barry scrapyard in 1968 – but like so many other former residents, LMS Jubilee 45699 “Galatea” is back in action on the main lines. It was certainly galloping along when it passed through on its way from Shrewsbury to Crewe this afternoon.
Flounders’ Folly, that is, at the highest point (just over 1000′) of the Wenlock Edge. It was much brighter and sunnier than our last visit, but not especially clear. The views are extensive in all directions from the top of the tower, which is usually open to visitors on the last Sunday in each month.
There was a very fine crop of blackberries in the woods below the edge – the butterflies thought so too. There were several speckled woods about, mostly too shy for photographer – and more commas than I’ve ever seen – dozens of them, posing lazily on the blackberries. The berries they seemed to favour looked well past their best – perhaps they’d begun to ferment, and the butterflies were sleeping off their hangovers…
It was certainly misty this morning. It’s mellow too – still, humid, comfortably warm for a wander down to the river. And truly fruitful – we could have picked pounds of big juicy blackberries (and a good few damsons) but we had no bags, so we ate them instead. A few, that is, not pounds…
That’s what the leaflet said… There’s more than one gauge at Keef’s; nearby is the newly-established 2’0″ gauge Lea Bailey Light Railway, and the 15″ gauge Perrygrove Railway is great fun. Visit “Narrow Gauges in the Forest” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries.
…the annual Autumn Steam Gala is upon us. For pictures and video, visit “Visitors in the Valley” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries
Sunday afternoon – back to the Severn Valley Railway. I’d seen Metropolitan Railway No.1 on Friday, in action further north – but it was bunker-first up the bank at Eardington, and just drifting down again. Here it’s working well on the gentle climb from Bewdley to Foley Park Tunnel – and the right way round.
There will be a Rail Diaries page in a day or two…
A most welcome visitor, a photo by
geoffspages on Flickr.
Well they are – “well tanks”, that is, both of them. The lovely Krauss metre-gauge locomotives were on display on a short stretch of track at the Alan Keef open day today. The green one is 3142 of 1894, the black one 5742 of 1908. Both have been restored to full working order at Keef’s in the recent past – I met them when they were in the works a few years back (see “Justine and Lydia” and “Coffee Pots at Keef’s“). Both were in steam today, and shuffled up and down their temporary track from time to time.
We drove the short distance from Keef’s to the Lea Bailey Light Railway, where a 2′ gauge line is being developed at the former gold mine (yes, really). One to watch, I think.
On now to Perrygrove. We thought Keef’s was busy – Perrygrove was packed… Perhaps it was the attraction of visiting locos, demonstration freights etc… It’s difficult to believe that “Lydia” and “Cagney”, seen in the photo (right) both operate on the same 15″ gauge track.
There will be a “Rail Diaries” page on the day’s amusements in due course.
The Severn Valley’s autumn gala is in full flow – today, tomorrow and Sunday. Here’s one of the visitors – SR Schools class no. 925 “Cheltenham” going well on Eardington bank.
Might have another look on Sunday – we’ve other plans for tomorrow. Rail Diaries page(s) in due course…
