A sunny afternoon – a walk down to the river and back, and at last some real signs that spring is here.
Yes, the year’s first violet, and the year’s first butterfly (a comma)
Old friends on the Lickey
Just posted to Geoff’s Rail Diaries, an illustrated account of Thursday’s visit to the Lickey Bank and Cranberry, in Staffordshire, to see the “Great Britain III” railtour, hauled by 44871 and 70013 “Oliver Cromwell”. Visit “Old friends on the Lickey”
Great Britain III – steam on the Lickey
It was originally planned to run via the “North and West”, but the possibility of strike action meant the Bristol – Preston leg was re-routed – twice! It would now ascend the Lickey bank before traversing the West Midlands and gaining the west coast main line at Stafford. It would be hauled by 44871 and 70013 – the last time I had seen 70013 in action was 11 August 1968 (when we thought it would be, barring a few trips by 4472, the last main line steam-hauled train on the BR network)… Better go and see it! (and escape from the dreaded painting and decorating)
Here’s a preview – I’ll probably put up a page on the “Rail Diaries” in a day or two – paintbrush permitting… Note the Voyager just disappearing out of the picture, extreme left – no, I didn’t get all the pictures I’d hoped for.
Mid-Wales windmills
A sprawling grassy hill about five miles east of Llanidloes, in mid-Wales, reaches a little over 1900’ (the OS map indicates a maximum of 584m). 
Getting on for 20 years ago, a wind farm was constructed here – one of the biggest in Europe, with no fewer than 103 turbines. Their generating capacity is 30.9 megawatts – during their expected lifetime of 25 years, that’s apparently equivalent to nearly 1.5m tons of CO2
A surfaced road provides easy access from the A483 Newtown – Llandrindod road to a small parking area – from where an easy walk takes one up to the “Fferm Gwynt”. The hilltop is access land, so there’s no problem with exploration, though a sign at the gate warns of the perils of icy 
conditions and thunderstorms…
The views from the hill are extensive and panoramic, ranging from the Shropshire hills to the Brecon Beacons, with much of mid-Wales in view to the west – and the generators themselves make an interesting subject for the camera.
Midweek wandering
The forecast was much better than reality –there wasn’t much sunshine, but the air
was fresh and mild – just right for this walk from Broseley, via Benthall and Buildwas bridge, to Coalbrookdale.
Spring in the air?
The crocuses are out, and there are fluffy white clouds sailing through a blue sky. And it’s not cold. It’s not warm either, but that biting easterly cold seems to have gone. Just right for a wander beside the 
Severn, near Linley, just a couple of miles north of Bridgnorth.
This part of the Severn valley is pretty inaccessible – just a mud road along the old railway track. Linley station is intact and inhabited, though the trackless trackbed below the platform is a reminder of what the rest of the route might have looked like, had it not been for the SVR.
Lesser-known hills…
Mid-Wales – the road from Welshpool to the coast passes through the village of Llanerfyl, from where a mountain road leads to 
Talerddig. A mile or so along this road, a narrow dead-end road leads up to some very quiet hill country, marshy grassland decorated with a number of small lakes – tarns, 
perhaps – the Scots would calls them lochans. Not sure there’s a Welsh equivalent – they’re all llynau, whatever size… Here are a few snaps taken on Mynydd Waun Fawr, on a beautifully sunny but cold afternoon.
Old Racecourse
High above Oswestry, right on the Welsh border, the remains of the old racecourse provide an airy route for a walk on a cold winter’s afternoon
Heath Mynd and the red kite
Yet more snow for Shropshire (and more still to come, if the forecast is to be believed). As my grandfather would have described it, “it snew and snew and snew”
The sun came out this afternoon, and the local snow soon melted, but there was still a covering in the shadier corners of Shropshire’s hill country – just right for a walk around Heath Mynd, a quiet corner of moorland, with fine views and, on this occasion, a red 
kite. I’ve seen several in the county over the last two or three years – this was the first I’ve been able to photograph.
Sunshine!
A sunny Saturday afternoon at last! Just right for a wander across the fields, on those uplands that mark the northern end of the Wenlock Edge, between Much Wenlock and Broseley.
There were some huge shower clouds about too – great for photographic skies…
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