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…
February gloom – Beacon Hill
Sunshine? What’s that? Had hoped for a sunny afternoon on Beacon Hill, near Knighton, Powys, on Sunday – the forecast suggested fairly clear skies. The views up there are extensive – looking perhaps 40 miles to the south, there seemed to be fairly clear skies… The gloom on Beacon Hill worsened in the short time we were there (it was very cold too) – I suppose it didn’t snow much…
Bottles
The weather’s still cold – the month started with heavy snow; today, there’s another sprinkling. Blists Hill might look good under a bit of snow? Yes, it would – but the sun stayed behind the clouds.
Still snowy – the Welsh borders
Sunday afternoon – an outing to the Kerry Ridgeway. There’s a car park where the Clun – Kerry road crosses the ridge, which provides for a reasonably level stroll (it was hardly a stroll, given the depth of snow) with, potentially, wonderful views of the Welsh borderland
More on Flickr
A cold start to the year…
…but very photogenic, with a couple of good leg-stretches, yesterday on Stapeley Hill (Mitchell’s Fold) and today on Caer Caradoc, with bitterly cold winds on the summit, and great conditions for a photo or two…
