Nature calls Relaxing with friends We’ve had a very sociable couple of days. Yesterday’s mini Granny Trek was walked by a couple from home that has relatives in Malvern who also joined us. We were a small but happy group and the walk was quite familiar to me, as Tony and I holidayed in Hanley Swan some years ago and had walked some of the paths. In the afternoon Tamsin visited us from Chelston Motor Homes. It was really good to see her and bring her up to date with our adventures. It seems ages since we last saw her at Wellington – in fact, it seems ages since we left Somerset and started out from Lowestoft. In the evening we’d been invited to The Blubell Inn on the Tewkesbury Road by a large group of Tom’s walking friends. They treated us to an excellent meal and presented us with a large bag of money that had been collected at their U3A meeting that afternoon. We were overwhelmed by their generosity and friendliness and resolved to visit them in the future and join in with one of their walks. Walking through such a lot of England that was unfamiliar to me in the first weeks was a constantly changing experience, but since crossing the M5 and the M50 I’ve begun to feel much nearer home. We’re parked near Ledbury at a very peaceful site – Woodside Lodges – where log cabins nestle amongst the trees. Ledbury is one of my favourite country towns and we’ve previously walked the Malvern Hills, but until today I hadn’t really explored the West side of the hills. It’s absolutely beautiful – reminiscent of the foothills of the Swiss Alps – and Mike, one of yesterday’s mini Granny Trekkers, walked with me to Ledbury from Malvern and could tell me a lot about the district. He and his wife Marion live in Colwall, which has a number of impressive facilities for an English village, including a railway station, and yet it’s set in the most idyllic location. Marion met us at Colwall Church with some delicious homemade cake and ginger beer and rather than find a convenient bush for my comfort stop, I was able to visit the loo in the Church Ale-House – a building nearly 500 years old that was refurbished in 1989 and is now used as a meeting room. Whilst on the subject of comfort stops, I must say I’m grateful to Pat – our aerobics teacher at home – for the exercises where we must imagine we’re about to make use of a less than salubrious toilet and don’t wish to quite touch the seat! The strengthening of those thigh muscles has stood me any good stead behind many a bush! On our walk through the fields to Ledbury, Mike and I were amazed at the sight of a small owl with a dead mouse under its claw, perched on a low fence in a hedge. Beside it was a similar sized dead owl, hanging by its wing. We thought at first someone had put two stuffed birds there as a joke, but when Mike gently nudged the bird with his stick, it was obviously alive. However, it remained still with its eyes closed and we presumed it was holding a vigil over the dead bird – hoping it would come to life again. The views from the hilltops had been obscured by low cloud, but as we approached Ledbury the sun came out. It was one of the loveliest stretches of the route so far, with its constant interest of hills and valleys. One part reminded me of Lathkill Dale in Derbyshire, which is a great favourite of Tony’s and mine. Four of Julia’s friends had come to visit for the day and we were again treated out – this time to lunch at The Feathers in Ledbury. I could get used to all this spoiling, though I must say that my Granny Trek diet provided by Julia on almost every other day of our trip takes some beating. Tomorrow I’ll have to pull my socks up and get down to my own map reading again. It’s a relatively short couple of days to Hereford, where hopes of a mini Granny Trek have been revived. Penny – an officer of the Walking for Health Initiative – has given me the name of Arthur – a Hereford walker – and he’s seeing what he can do to arrange something at the weekend. I do hope it will happen, as then we’ll have managed the entire fifteen mini Granny Treks. . |