 |
| Brian photographing Red Ditch in Redditch |
The excitement yesterday was palpable.....was I getting my jab? No, I got that two weeks ago, very efficient, I got a text from the GP it took half an hour to get through and with that I was jabbed within an hour and a half.
Were we meeting people? No, that’s tomorrow, we are meeting Denise and Paul for a walk around Hanbury.
Getting out in Ted? No, not till the middle of April when we have two weeks away booked between mum and Brian’s second jabs. We’d not normally have considered booking for April, but just as well we have as it’s crazy out there! It’ll take a little getting used to, being organised!
So? He’d found Red Ditch on the OS map, a small stream rising and vanishing within a very small area. We had to go and look at what Redditch was named after, (apparently) sadly (so he said) both the source and end were on private ground so we could only walk alongside for a short distance counting the number of bikes and trolleys. (I think it was bikes 4 trolleys 1).
 |
| This is the neglected Red Ditch stream in Redditch. Studying the map yesterday to find somewhere different to walk to I found a little stream marked on the OS map called Red Ditch. Was this where the name of Redditch town came from? 'We must go and have a look' I told Jackie. She was excited (not). We found this tiny stream that has its source higher up in a field that was fenced off with barbed wire. Beyond here it snakes between a big factory and a new housing estate currently being built... |
As I say, I had my jab, I didn’t get the flu symptoms. I just felt very tired. This hasn’t gone away and has been joined with feeling light headed, even when lying down! Blood tests have shown nothing except a slight vitamin D deficiency, so I’m on pills for that even though it doesn’t seem to fit the symptoms.
 |
| Here Red Ditch opens up into a small pool that's been fenced off by the housing estate builders. There were some old bikes and a shopping trolley in it... |
Round at mum’s one day, B went out for the paper, and came back saying there was a small white dog in the road looking lost and confused. We went out to see what was what. It did seem a bit confused, but didn’t want to say hello. It kept trotting and stopping, and trotting and stopping. Did it know where it was going or was it just running away from us? I suggested taking a picture to put on the local Facebook group, but this was harder than it sounds. We were joined by a lady with a lead and a lady with a dog. By the time we caught up, it had gone about half a mile but was sitting on a front doorstep. The bell was rung, it did live there and trotted in, but what of the ladies husband who had gone out with the dog? We split to go both ways round the block, Brian found a man looking a little lost and confused. “If you’ve lost a small white dog, it’s home...” he had so set off looking quite relieved.
 |
| And this is where it appears to end, in a pond that used to be a millpond for a needle mill, long gone. From here is disappears underground through a concrete weir, presumably under the factory. We think it may join Batchley Brook, go under the big roundabout by Sainsburys and re-emerge by Forge Mill. But by then its lost its name Red Ditch. This pond is behind a high steel fence and is inaccessible to the public. I got the photo poking my camera through the railings. At least the ducks can get in! |
We spent Mother’s Day with mum. Did some tree pruning in the garden and cooked chicken pie, seemed fairly traditional and ‘normal’.
Apart from that, the usual, walking, cooking, food box delivering.... and finally finished the second jigsaw, it was a bit of a pig!
 |
| So apart from the exciting Red Ditch trail we've done several interesting walks. This is one was round the lovely Coughton Court. Below are photos from a walk round our home, and historic village of Alvechurch. Did you know that Coughton Court, that dates from 16th century and originally surrounded by a moat, was owned by the Throckmorton family, who were practicing Catholics during the reign of Elizabeth the first, when Catholics were being persecuted. Within the building is a 'priest hole' which was used to hide Catholic priests from Protestant Reformers. The Throckmortons were also implicated in an unsuccessful plot to murder Queen Elizabeth the first in 1583 and were implicated in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. It is said that some of the conspirators were waiting in the drawing room for news of the success of the plot and other conspirators rode directly there after the plan was foiled. |
 |
| A deer in the countryside at Coughton watches us carefully |
 |
| The former St Laurence church Spernall, near Coughton |
 |
| Jackie watches from a bridge next to a ford over the River Arrow at Coughton |
 |
| Collecting wild garlic leaves to add to that evenings home cooked curry dish |
 |
| And so onto our home village of Alvechurch. This is St Lawrence Church. It is believed a church existed here in Saxon times as a priest is mentioned as being here in the Domesday Book. Some of the earliest parts of the current building date from 13th century, with various additions every century after up to a major rebuild in 1858. More info on this link: http://www.alvechurch-stlaurence.org/history/4557346706 |
 |
| Alvechurch is located on the Worcester and Birmingham canal and has a large marina where you can hire narrow boats, have them repaired and also moor up and drink at two of the four village pubs that are situated on its bank, The Weighbridge and The Crown. More info on this link: https://www.alvechurchmarina.com/ |
 |
| The Crown pub. Photo taken from the bridge over the canal |
 |
| The Tudor Rose Fish Bar - Alvechurch's Fish and Chip shop in a beautiful medieval half timbered building |
 |
| The Old House on Bear Hill. The ground floor bay window on the right leans outwards at the bottom at an alarming angle. Presumably it is structurally safe but it looks a bit worrying! |
 |
| And for no other reason other than I managed to get a good photo, here's a sparrow taken from our window in Headless Cross, Redditch. I think it's quite cute, it was a cold day so it has its feathers puffed out |
No comments:
Post a Comment