Out in the Spring Sunshine..

Given that the sun was shining brightly yesterday morning, there was only one thing to do.. a walk! We put a picnic together with the left-overs from Saturday night's meal and drove a few miles up the River Severn to Bewdley.  We parked the car in one of the riverside carparks and headed off down the lane to Ribbesford...

This is a view of Ribbesford Court.  It was home to General de Gaulle after the fall of France in 1940 and became became a centre of 'Free French' military activity for a while.  It's now a private home again.  The trees behind the house are part of the Wyre Forest.

We climbed the hill and then picked up part of the Worcesterhsire Way.  It was wonderful to stride out along these tracks in the shelter of the hedge, with the sun on our faces...

We'd done about 5 miles by the time that we got to this little track.  It's actually a 'corpse road' - the route that people had to use to take their dead to burial in the church at Ribbesford.  It still has a slightly 'other-worldly' quality to it...

After another mile or so, we picked our way into the upper part of Bewdley itself.  This is the original part of the town and you can see the remains of fairly ancient buildings....

We continued alone the old road into Bewdley - through an area know as Wyre Hill..  The tiny old cottages haven't changed much in the last 150 years..

Eventually we arrived at the back of the Georgian town.  This part of the town is still known as 'Welch Gate' - which gives some clues to the way that the Welsh border moved over the years!

We picked our way through the town and back to the river bank.  (Bewdley has a very pretty river frontage but I'm saving that for another post.)

The sun was still shining and it was really warm - perfect weather for a picnic!  We had salad, beetroot, cheesy potato salad, cold roast chicken and fruit for lunch... all washed down with a little rose wine and plenty of black coffee. 

It was warm enough to sit and crochet in the sun for an hour or afterwards.  Mark bought a 4X4 magazine along as well, so we were both completely content!