…and Ironbridge. Making the most of the sun’s warm rays – the morning going to be the best part of the day, I think (so does the Met. Office). Last week’s snow is a muddily rushing through the Severn Gorge – are we in for another flood?
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=367115&Y=303980&A=Y&Z=120
It’s a regular route for us – until we come to the ford. The mid-week snowfall has been melting rapidly since yesterday, and there’s no way we can reach the footbridge over Bullhill Brook. “Let’s try the path through the fields, and hope it’s not too muddy”. It isn’t, and it proves to be a very enjoyable way through pleasant farmland. Ascending through the woods, a couple of deer quietly trot away from us (no chance of a photograph). Now we’re on the quiet road from Kenley, with views to Wenlock Edge, heading back to the start.
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=357140&Y=301605&A=Y&Z=120
We’re at Cosford, at the RAF museum. The cold war is a major theme here (on this appropriately cold day), with displays of redundant equipment from that era. The possible use and consequences of all those planes and missiles doesn’t bear thinking about, but the shapes and colours make an interesting subject for the camera – and it’s perfect for keeping an energetic visiting four-year-old amused and entertained…
We’re ‘in’ – it’s cold and grey again, and a little while ago it was drizzling gently. We’re also at home because we’re expecting visitors – they’ve got a long journey (I don’t envy them). A call from the kitchen – “He’s back”. There’s a sparrowhawk on the fence, glaring evilly in all directions, looking for a tasty (blue?) titbit. Nature isn’t always pretty. (Hope he doesn’t eat my friend the robin, who comes to see what I’m doing whenever I’m in the garden).
He’s gone now. Didn’t eat anyone.
It’s hazy too, but at least there’s no wind. More like January than early March – just a few primroses at the foot of Round Hill to remind us that it’s spring…
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A fine, bright but cold afternoon – it’s good to be out on the quieter side of Much Wenlock. There are one or two others about, all of them dog-walkers (possibly wondering where ours is?), but they’re well-behaved and seem to know where they’re going. The dogs are OK too.
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It’s starting to appear on the blackthorn, the startlingly white blossom that in autumn will bring those bitter almost-black fruits, the basis for many a bottle of sloe gin. Like yesterday, it’s cold, but there’s enough sunshine to make us comfortably warm, especially when sheltered from that north-easterly breeze.
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=360680&Y=302200&A=Y&Z=120
The Met Office says spring begins next Wednesday, and we’ve had a few spring-like days recently. Not quite there yet… Photos? At first, it’s too cold to hang around. We’re halfway round before the sun (we can really feel its warmth) and the camera come out. What a difference!
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=367515&Y=298310&A=Y&Z=120
Thursday 23 Feb: We could park at the sawmill car park, walk around Dudmaston and through the asparagus farm to Comer Wood – get a light lunch at the shepherd’s hut. Yes, we could, if it hadn’t been half-term week (perhaps there’s something to be said for instant coffee: “instant”…). After five minutes in a stationary queue, we decided to cut our losses (we’ll have a late lunch at home). Escaping from the woods at their northernmost tip, we follow the quiet road to Mose and the farm track beyond, back to the start.
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=374755&Y=289120&A=Y&Z=120
Yet another day that feels like early spring. The pussy willow beside the Severn thinks so too, adding a little splash of yellow to the scene
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=372065&Y=296465&A=Y&Z=120
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