England October 2011

Three days before Christmas and I am realising that if any of 2011 remains unblogged-about after today, it will probably remain so for evermore. So I'll fly back a couple of months and give you a quick scattershot tour of our latest trip to the UK.

To start with, our flight was cancelled and we had to come home and try again the next day. Fortunately Toby regarded DFW Airport as a super-huge playground filled with nice people who smiled at him. We just had to prevent him from throwing himself under luggage carts.

Toby at the airport

Toby slept like the proverbial baby on the aeroplane, but once we arrived he started sleeping like a real baby - that is, up and screaming half the night. Our friends Naomi and Steve suffered through one night with us, although we were told they had a giggle at us desperately intoning, "You are feeling sleeee-py", in harmony, at 2 am. With very little effect. Our one consolation was that their baby didn't wake up and join the party.

Naomi and Luke, me and Toby

We enjoyed the sweeping chalk hills of the Chilterns, the unruffled expanse of the Severn Estuary, the willows delicately dipping their branches into the Thames, the weathered red brick of a house over a century old.

At Clevedon

Near Hughendon Manor

Admiring a grapevine in Streatley

Graham, Toby and Dad on Streatley Hill

By the Thames

Taplow Court

We played on tombstones and swings.

We visited hedgehogs, and saw seven swans swimming.

Rescue hedgehog at Tiggywinkles Animal Hospital

Their hedgehog museum...

...had quite a range of exhibits!

We spent time with family.

And a small boy celebrated his first birthday!

It was fun!

Comments

The Churnet Way: a wonderful walk

The loop from Oakamoor to Froghall and back was one of the most enjoyable walks I've done in a long time. It had a bit of everything: woods, ponds, rivers and railways; steep climbs and sweeping views; an unusual church, an ex-industrial wharf, and, as a final bonus, car parks with toilets. Of course, the sunny weather helped too. I parked in Oakamoor and set off along a quiet lane called Stoney Dale. This is the route of the Churnet Way, which deviates away from the river for a couple of miles. After a while I turned right and climbed up through the woods on a gravelly path, then dropped down to the B5417. a spring in Oakamoor Crossing the road, I entered Hawksmoor Nature Reserve. It has some fine gateposts commemorating John Richard Beech Masefield, "a great naturalist". I found a photo of the opening of the gateway in 1933; unsurprisingly, the trees have grown a lot since then! A track took me down through the woods to East Wall Farm. Lovely view! Nice duck pond as

The Churnet Way: bells at Alton

Alton village and Alton Towers are perched on opposite banks of the Churnet, with the river cutting a deep valley between them. Most people drive straight through the village on the way to the theme park. But I have a great liking for walks and no fondness at all for rollercoasters, so I found a large layby to park in at Town End, in Alton, and pulled on my boots. The church bells were ringing as I set off. I vaguely wondered if there was an event. A wedding? Unlikely on a Tuesday morning. Maybe a funeral. I followed a footpath across a few fields to reach Saltersford Lane. This was the width of a single-track road, but mostly overgrown and muddy. I was grateful for the strip of stone flags (and some more modern concrete slabs) which provided a dry surface to walk on. Presently I came out into some fields and dropped down a slope to the old railway line, at the point where I left it on my previous walk . bit of old rail There followed several miles of walking along the railway path.

The Churnet Way: Rocester and Denstone

I looked at the stile and shook my head. Only a few metres beyond it was a busy B-road with a nice wide verge to walk on, but between the stile and the road was an impenetrable mass of brambles and bushes. I wasn't getting through that lot. Reluctantly, I turned left and trekked along yet another field boundary in search of a gate. You may recall that my previous walk had taken me to Thorpe, with Toby. If you're really paying attention you will know that I'm then supposed to be continuing on the Limestone Way as far as Matlock. Well, I've taken a detour. I realised that I had crossed every bridge over the Dove so far, apart from one small one just south of Rocester. I couldn't miss that out, could I? So today's walk was designed to take in that bridge, but it also happened to start me off on the Churnet Way , which I rather liked the look of. I think I will follow it for a while and come back to the Limestone Way later. JCB factory and lake The walk had start

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

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