We might get wet…

There are some heavy showers around, but if we time it carefully (and if the Met Office’s map is reasonably reliable) it could stay dry for long enough to walk around the Willey lanes. It was raining when we left home, and soon after we left the car, we had to shelter under the trees (who needs an umbrella around here?) for five minutes…

…and then it was dry, with some bright sunshine and great cloudy skyscapes. It can’t last though, and on the five-minute drive home, the rain begins again.

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Not the only fruit…

Bedlam to Coalport – a Severnside stroll: down the old railway track to Coalport Bridge, back via the youth hostel (tea and cake) and the memorial footbridge. Once again, we’re struck by the sheer volume of berries of all kinds, from the last shrivelling blackberries, through dogwood and rosehip, to juicy damsons (mostly out of reach overhead and over-ripe now). But berries are not the only fruit…

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Sunny before lunch

Once again, the morning looked better for a leg-stretch – and as I write, there’s thunder, lightning, hailstones… Around Willey, things are starting to look green again just as autumn initiates another colour change. There are puffballs in the village hall car park, big bales in the field, hops in the hedge, damsons (mostly out of reach) – and free llama manure. That’s a first!

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Berryful

“It’s a very berryful autumn”. Yes, that’s a fair description, even if the word hasn’t yet made it to the dictionary. Today, we’re walking through Harnage Grange, then up past Stonewall Wood and the back of Bull Farm to Kenley ridge. The bushes beside the path in that unseen valley are heavily laden – sloes and haws predominate, but there are others (no photos of the rosehips – they wouldn’t stay still in the stiff south-easterly breeze). Another very pleasant autumnal afternoon!

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Harvests

A local circular, starting at the top of Scots Lane. Down to Bould Lane, down again to the path across the fields, to Linley Hall and beyond. Just where the path would descend to the riverbank, another way leads along the edge of Birch Wood. We skirt the steep drop down to Dean Brook to head back across the fields towards Linley Green and the start. The fields beside Bould lane have been harvested, the straw baled and the ground harrowed. Beyond Linley Hall, there’s a chap operating timber harvesting machinery. There are trees full of crab apples, there are wild plums (sadly, well out of reach), more damsons than I’ve ever seen at this time of year – and wild mushrooms at the field’s edge.

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Clun Castle

We’ve visited Clun from time to time over many years, but it’s a long time since we last visited the castle. Its namesake, the GWR-designed ‘Clun Castle’, no. 7029, is possibly much better known (see Clun Castle on Geoffspages blog) – the castle itself is not the most impressive of ruins. However, it’s photogenic on its mound high above the river Clun on this bright but showery afternoon, and there are some fine views of the surrounding countryside.

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Not many more…

It won’t be long before we enjoy this year’s last evening walk – the nights are rapidly drawing in. We’ll make the most of it on this occasion, when the air is clear and cool after a few showers earlier. The two young deer were a bonus, but a passing car (one of only three or four that passed us) disturbed them and off they went, into the woods. I don’t think they were planning on staying anyway.

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By Coundmoor Brook

Up the lane to Harnage, then across the fields, past the farm reservoir to the path beside the wood, high above Coundmoor Brook. Down to the ford, then back along the delightful brookside path, where the snowdrops grow at the other end of the year… A very pleasant gentle wander on a warm afternoon.

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Continued…

Just a few… A day later, and it still feels autumnal, though the sun is trying to peep through. We’re in more-or-less the same place as yesterday, but a little higher, on the shoulder of Shirlett Common – up Round Hill, down Ned’s Lane and back along the road to the start. The bracken is golden, the black bryony is living up to its name, and there’s a super big mushroom, some kind of boletus I think. We’ll leave it where it is, of course, for others to see and enjoy. It may be edible, in the same sense that Russian roulette isn’t always fatal…

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