An attempt to avoid the worst of the mud, on an afternoon when it was good to be out on the hills. This one is on lanes with a decent surface at lower levels – perhaps the upper reaches might not be too waterlogged. The rough lane from Cockshutford serves a few houses high on the hillside – beyond, it’s a bit soft for 100 yards under the trees, then we’re out on the hillside, and it’s a gentle stroll on the summit ridge. Admittedly, there are one or two soggy spots which require careful circumnavigation… The cloud has cleared for a while, and a shaft of bright sunshine catches an unexpected red spot amongst the heather. The poppy wreaths have been well tied down, on the memorial to the “twenty three Allied and German airmen who died in flying accidents on the Brown Clee hills, 1939 – 1945”.

The gate just beyond the radio mast on Clee Burf provides a view to the south-east, where the Malverns catch the eye and the Cotswolds provide a grey horizon. In the opposite direction, as we begin our descent down the road serving the mast (grassy ancient tarmac), a pale tower catches the light. It’s the cement works at Penyffordd – 55 miles distant.

Taking advantage of some bright sunshine, on the high ground at the northern end of the Wenlock Edge

Local wandering on a sunny afternoon, 2013’s last: clear skies after (and before…) rain – up through the woods to the lane where the sunset might be good. It wasn’t…

We’ve done this one before – see The Munslows – anticlockwise last time. Today we walked up the surfaced lane from Aston Munslow towards Little London, to return down the much-rougher track towards Munslow, and ended with the path across the fields. The immediate (gentle) ascent would warm us up nicely (it did), and there might be an attractive sunset sky ahead on the last leg. There wasn’t – a gradually-approaching weather front replaced the blue skies with grey.