Wednesday 22 September: down by the Severn again. The red admiral looked good – so did the kingfisher, but there was no chance of a photo there. The boat is increasingly vulnerable to flooding (look at the dates on the door) – waders needed in the bar!
A circular from the centre of Much Wenlock. In the field opposite the school are highland cattle, and there are more by Newtown Farm. At the other end of the scale, there are numerous butterflies flitting about and occasionally resting conveniently on vegetation beside our path. They’re all speckled woods. Brown cattle and brown butterflies – it must be the time of year.
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They’re the two summits of Brown Clee – Abdon Burf and Clee Burf. It’s a beautiful day – bright and sunny, cool clear air – perfect for the hills. We’ll take a picnic lunch and aim for that bench above the Five Springs. Sadly, someone else has got there first – that never happens! So our dining chairs will be dining rocks, just beyond the top of Clee Burf, facing an extensive panorama of hills through an arc from the south east, through Titterstone Clee, to the south west. Pen y Fan, the highest point of the Brecon Beacons, is just visible on the far horizon, some 55 miles distant.
The views from our return route, east of the ridge, are not to the same standard – but the blue of Boyne Water, where dragonflies flit. provides a pleasant backdrop for a second (very small!) lunch…
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A circular walk on a pleasant afternoon, through the fields to Wyke, then the woods of Benthall Edge. We’ll look down on the site of Ironbridge power station – it’s gone!
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A walk down to Coalport, where a couple of slices of cake are just the thing to keep us going on the walk back home – it’s uphill all the way…
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Red kites (and lots of buzzards) near Harnage; red berries and leaves (just a few) in the hedgerows near Kenley. And sunshine!
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We had the mellow fruitfulness a couple of days ago. Today, after overnight rain, it’s misty. We ought to be able to look back from the (slightly) higher ground south of Cound to the Ironbridge gorge, sans power station chimney – a rural view again after 60 years or so. Not a hope! Someone’s hidden the Wrekin too.
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No mists though… There are ripe blackberries in the hedgerows, and lots of damsons – some are sweet enough to eat now, but most need another week or so. (They’ll probably all have been picked by then, ripe or not.) In the woods down Ned’s Lane, there’s a different kind of fruitfulness, which we certainly won’t be sampling…
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On Friday morning (when we were otherwise engaged) the power station chimney was demolished. All that’s left is remnants of old offices – and the switchgear building, still in use. It’s a warm and sunny afternoon – the schools must have gone back…
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Aging solicitors in tweed suits? Or perhaps villages / hamlets in Shropshire, below Wenlock Edge… We mustn’t (can’t!) forget Wigwig – little more than a farm, it’s earned its place on the signpost at the main road. The latter is busy on a warm Sunday afternoon (now we’re in autumn, the weather is warmer and sunnier than it was throughout August), but once we’re away from the road, this is quiet and very pleasant country.
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