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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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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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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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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Didn’t really get a chance to go out during the day – let’s make the most of what little light remains in the evening, with a wander around the Willey lanes

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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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The air’s cool on this bright sunny morning – let’s make the most of it with a pre-lunch wander: down the very quiet Stanley Lane (three walkers, two cyclists) to Lower Severn Hall, then back along the riverside path to the woods of Chestnut Coppice. The uphill stretch (it’s very short, and not very steep) is rewarded with two wonderful fungal growths on dead wood – chicken of the woods and velvet-top fungus (I think!). They’re interesting subjects for the camera, whatever they are, but I certainly wouldn’t want to eat them…

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Stretton Westwood and Bourton Westwood: we’ve been here before. The last time was in early spring – there were no leaves on the trees, the hedges were bare and there was no-one else about. Today, the trees are in full leaf, the hedges are laden with blackberries and sloes – and there’s no-one else about. A great afternoon for for a wander in this quiet part of Wenlock Edge – pleasantly warm with a light cooling breeze. Can’t ask for much more at this time of year.

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