Yesterday was wet and windy; today it’s bright and breezy. We’ll need to time it carefully to avoid the showers though. It’s a familiar route, past Round Hill and Willey Lower Pool, down Bould Lane and back through Linley Brook, but the weather makes each outing different. When the sun shines, there are photoflood moments – got to be quick though, they’re gone in seconds.

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Down the lane past Swinney Farm, then the old railway track to Coalport Bridge. Cross the river and make our way to the china works and the youth hostel, where maybe before too long we’ll once again enjoy tea and cake. Back over the memorial footbridge and up the dingle (which isn’t too muddy…) – a most enjoyable outing!

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That’s what I said yesterday, and today’s forecast was “overcast”. It was wrong. The bright sunshine made it feel warmer too. We’re enjoying a short walk around the very quiet lanes from Willey. Where’s everyone else on this lovely afternoon? We usually see at least one other person out walking, sometimes as many as three or four on a Sunday afternoon…

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Another cold, grey, still day. We’re walking past Hurst Farm pools, down the farm lane, across the fields past Shore Pool (which is a very muddy colour) and back up the drive past the house at Aldenham Park. Some sunshine would be good…

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It’s another cold, grey but still day – the landscapes are flat, but there’s colour beside the path. We’re walking up past Round Hill, down Ned’s Lane to Willey, then back to the start along Bould Lane and through Linley Brook. It may be grey but it’s good to be out.

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A walk along Shirlett Lane on a cold, hazy but sunny afternoon. It’s quiet up here today.

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… a day (or three) makes. On Friday, in glorious sunshine, we walked along Benthall Edge and looked down on the power station (see ‘Back from the Edge’. The following day, the former boiler house blew up – as a planned part of the ongoing demolition, of course. I don’t think we’d have been allowed up there at the time, and yesterday, I suspect, the paths would have been busy. Today, like the boiler house, the sunshine is but a memory. It’s cold, grey and misty.

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Passing through Posenhall… One last day of blue skies, before (if the forecast is to be believed) a rather grey spell. It’s another beautiful afternoon – it would be a crime to stay indoors on a day like this.

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