Wandering beside the Worfe… The river Worfe (a minor watercourse, it has to be said) flows into the Severn just a little way north of Bridgnorth, passing through an attractive tree-lined rocky-sided valley just before it gets there, near the hamlet of Rindleford. The path leads us to the farm buildings at Burcote, then along a straight and very quiet lane. Before we reach its end, an inviting-looking dry side valley leads us back down to Rindleford, from where we retrace our steps back to the car.

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Benthall Edge – a short walk from the car park at Benthall Hall. It looked like being sunny, but the weather changed its mind. Occasional brief sunny intervals might be a better description.

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Alliterative ambling on a fine afternoon… Parking in the usual spot, we walk down Stanley Lane as far as Lower Severn Hall, then across to the riverbank. We wondered if it might be muddy, but the footpath is fine. The river is still quite high, and there’s evidence of the height it reached a week or so ago. We return to the start through Chestnut Coppice – it’s been a very pleasant perambulation of this quiet corner of Shropshire…

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It’s a fine, dry, intermittently sunny afternoon. Where to? “How about that walk from Tigger’s Ickle Shop?”
So – we’re in Corvedale, walking the very quiet lane through Holdgate and Stanton Long, then back along the old Corvedale road – “Rowe Lane” – to the little wayside stall*, near which we’ve left the car. We return home armed with rocky road, brownie and flapjack – wonderful stuff!
* There are two  ‘Ickle Shops’ – there’s another at the north end of Rowe Lane. Intriguing home-made cakes, jams, eggs, chutney – yes, we came away with a jar of ‘Stanton Pickle’ too…

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1st of March: the Met. Office says it’s spring, and I’m reluctant to argue. On our walk along Shirlett Lane on this sunny morning, there are few real signs of the season, but there’s a spring-like feel to the air. A veil of high cloud will block the sunshine later, and the next few days look like being rather miserable, but it’s a start…

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It was going to be a walk on Wenlock Edge, above Eaton, but the queue for the road works in Wenlock persuaded us to revise our plans. Instead, we’ll park at Morville and walk out to Hurst Farm and back. And what a good day to be out – barely a cloud in the sky!

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A short stroll in the Severn gorge, from Bedlam furnaces to Coalport and back. We had hoped the YHA café might be open – so did the YHA, it appears, but they were closed due to staff problems. Good thing we had chocolate rations with us…

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Or is it? It’s cold today, and though the sun’s bright and warming when it shines, there’s a flurry of snowflakes as we’re preparing to go out. In Bridgnorth, up near the bypass, the trees are white with early blossom encouraging the season along. In the valley, the waters are high – the Severn is up on the fields and high under the bridge, not far below the tops of the arches – though the worst is past, apparently.

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…it will be the first day of spring. Given the weather we’ve been ‘enjoying’ recently (three named storms in a week) it can’t some soon enough! We’re wandering the Willey lanes this afternoon for the same reason as last Wednesday – it’s sheltered from the wind and good underfoot. Where we leave the car, at the top of Scots Lane, it’s blowing half a gale, but in minutes we’re into a calmer land, and despite the storms, it’s remarkable how the early signs of spring are advancing. There’s lots more green on the hawthorn, some early primroses in Bould Lane, and dog’s mercury taking over the verges elsewhere. A week tomorrow…

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Rainy too! They’re putting up the flood defences in Ironbridge – the road’s closed, and pedestrians have to use New Road (we were going to go that way anyway) We’ve been to the top of Coalbrookdale – up via Jockey Bank and Orchard Lane, and over the top (windy here!) by the old White Horse, then down behind Coalbrookdale church. We’ll return by the Coach Road, then back beside the river. The rain has kept off, the sun has shone, and we’ve been out of the wind – mostly. A pleasant little outing – just as well, it’s going to rain again tomorrow.

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