Comer and Mose – a walk through the woods and along the very quiet lane past the farm. There are butterflies, there’s a small dragonfly (a common darter, I believe) and, at the other end of the scale, a family of swans in Wall Pool. The NT car park is busy, but beyond a 15 minutes radius from the car, there’s no-one else around.
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Amongst all the usual autumnal fruits, berries and fungi, there’s a real eye-catcher along Bould Lane – a field full of sunflowers! Definitely not the usual crop! (Once again, we’re out in the morning – heavy showers this afternoon…)
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After a rainy afternoon, the sky has cleared, but the sun will soon have set – we’d better get a move on…
The Prancing Pony at Bree had separate facilities for the differently-sized peoples of Middle Earth. Stourport basin is a bit like that. It connects the narrowboat canals of the West Midlands with the Severn and, well above the river, also provides facilities for medium-sized riverboats (which cannot, of course, travel any further up the waterway along the canals). Between the river and the basin are two sets of locks – full-width barge locks for the riverboats, and hobbit-sized for the narrowboats. It’s a fascinating place.
Cheek-by-jowl with the canal-age calm of the basin, overlooked by the elegant Georgian buildings of Stourport, is a brash, noisy, colourful funfair (it’s probably much noisier at the weekend), and the high street shops, particularly those nearer the river, appear to cater for its visitors – especially the hungier ones. The contrast between the shopfronts and the floors above is almost as great as that between the basin and the funfair. I’ll say it again – it’s a fascinating place!
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… of summer? It’s certainly warm today, in the mid-2os, though it probably won’t last. Sunny too – it would be a crime to stay indoors. Away from the car park, there’s hardly anyone else about, and I don’t think the path from Posenhall to Arlescott has been walked much recently – it’s almost blocked by scratchy brambles and stinging nettles (I can still feel them in my left hand). The blackberries beyond that short stretch make it all worthwhile – several brief stops for refreshment…
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The first two days were rather wet; today, the 3rd of September, is a better day. Grey in the morning but sunny intervals from around 2pm, the forecast suggested, and it was pretty accurate. Blackberries abound, but they’re rather soggy after the rain – however, there’s a reliable wild apple tree that will help to kick-start the jam-making season.
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…on Wenlock Edge. From the car park at the top of the Ticklerton – Westhope road, it’s a pleasant walk down that road to the hamlet of Westhope. The Hope Dale road then ascends very gently to the col below Callow Hill’s tower. A short lane then leads to the Edge, for a very pleasant walk through deciduous woodland, almost dead straight back to the start.
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Friday 30 August: Hawthorn Bank – an evening walk at summer’s end. It’s a perfect still evening, though the light’s going, especially under the trees. There won’t be many more such evenings this year…
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They’re just big thistles really… An Attingham amble, out around the deer park and back through the walled garden
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Beautiful lighting at the end of the day, for our walk (a regular!) around Colemore Green and Boldings Pools.
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