The Midlands

Starting our walk from Perry Barr with John and Brian

I don’t know where our free week has gone, it’s been absolute madness. We ‘popped out’ on Wednesday to get Brian some socks for his next walk (the Cotswold Way) at the end of the month, and for me to get a new tablet. The old iPad mini I won in a Trusted Housesitters draw about 10 years ago is well travelled, owes me nothing, and is too old to open more and more websites. I hate buying this sort of thing I get so stressed, so when they said free transfer I jumped at it. Not today however, come back tomorrow. Fortunately it fitted in after my haircut so all seemed good, except now it’s taking two days, particularly as I stood and waited for 45 minutes after appointment time and then when I wasn’t sure of my Apple ID she just reset it. If she’d told me that none of my stored passwords for all the websites I’ve accessed would be transferred, I’d have tried a few more guesses. As it was I then spent all afternoon opening websites, with the old iPad beside me putting in passwords. Thrilling! Anyway, first world problems!

But first a look at Ozzy the Bull in Central Railway station, Birmingham who happened to be swaying his head from side to side along with wagging his tail a having lit up eyes

Friday was gardening at Birmingham Road and sorting stuff out of the loft at Birmingham Road, still in the garage, another trip to the charity shop then. Oh, and another bag of photos and papers for Brian to go through and scan. Not hard, but very time consuming. We thought we’d pop up the pub for a sunny drink and crossword, only to find the beer festival was on. We weren’t meant to be here, so we hadn’t taken any notice! Still we sampled a few halves, did the crossword and had an interesting chat with a couple we shared a table with.

And then breakfast to give us energy!

Saturday was very hot, particularly by the time Brian had done a park run at Brueton Park with Mark where they bumped in to Mike and did lots of gossiping. He got back and we went out for Brunch before wilting gently.

One of the ten herons we saw walking along the towpath.

Sunday was much better so gardening (how have we gone from no gardens to suddenly two gardens?) and window cleaning, inside and out, and soffits and fascia. So needed doing, but his back is still aching! We felt we deserved Sunday club, much better with the pub back to normal.

As we got closer he decided it was time to go and, in this photo he's just taking off

Monday is not John and Brian’s usual walking day, except with chemo on Tuesday, Monday it was. This suited us, so we joined them. Last week they did a very short walk, so I was quite surprised when Google maps told me to walk direct from Perry Barr to Dudley Port was 7.5 miles, and that was without the two pub stops or walking to and along the canal. It got worse, as we walked out of Perry Barr station, Brian said “we shouldn’t be here, we should be at Hampstead, oh well, it’ll be fine”. And so it was, two pubs, 4 pints 10 herons and 10ish miles. We had a lovely day (See our short video of where we went, with photos: click here).

Apparently this is where you go to learn how to climb telegraph poles. They are not connected to anything, they are there for people to learn and practice on

Tuesday was meant to be fitting the box at Denise and Paul’s to control their water feature, and a walk. We’ve been rained off from this before, and so we were again. Still we had a good chat and a very pleasant lunch of allotment soup before popping out to get me some new approach shoes as I knew I needed them and the blister from Monday only confirmed this

Monday marked the end of an unusually warm spell bringing warm air currents up from North Africa along with saharan dust, giving us unusual sunrises 

Yesterday Brian walked to Hagley 15 miles in preparation for the Cotswold way (see short video of walk with photos: click here), while I pottered. Tonight we are out with Abi at the lovely Indian restaurant just round the corner from her. Tomorrow we go to Edlesborough as there is a party on Saturday to celebrate Charles’s 21st, and so it goes on. Nothing earth shattering but seems to be all go.

The Crown pub in Alvechurch, the start of Brians 24km walk across the Lickey, Waseley and Clent Hills to Hagley railway station

First summit, Beacon Hill, Lickey Hills. A massive 298m high, but lovely views over Birmingham and countryside

A zoomed in view of Birmingham from the summit. You can just see the three white towers of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on the left and the University clock tower on the right

Second summit, Windmill Hill in Waseley Country Park. 285m

Slight deviation off the North Worcestershire trail to visit this place before the next summit. This is called Sling Pool and, although it looks like a field it is, in fact a small reservoir and the darker bit at the front centre is an overflow that regulates the water height, allowing to to flow under the small dam I'm standing on and away into the stream behind. Very nostalgic for me as mum and dad used to take me, Denise and Tony here as kids to fish, explore and play. It never used to be overgrown like this but it is a small nature reserve now. Google Maps doesn't even mention it and the only reference I can find to Sling Common is here: Sling Common

Summit three, the 315m trig point on Walton Hill in the Clent Hills

Fourth and last summit, Clent Hill, 350m with fabulous 360 degree views. Those four stones over there are not prehistoric, but date from 1763 when workers of the Lord of Hagley Hall placed them there

Near the summit. Its possible to see the Lickey Hills, the Wrekin, Malvern Hills and hills into Wales. From here I headed down, through Hagley and caught the trains back to Alvechurch. 6 hours of mainly hill and countryside walking with little road walking with great views all day.