A Wander Round Worcester

Firstly, a warm welcome to my new follower - Julie at 'A Tale from Toadstool House' - and thanks to you all for your continued messages of support as Mark recovers from his op. 

You've probably realised that Mark is the kind of guy who is always busy doing something and, as a result, he's finding the post-op restrictions extremely frustrating.  Today we turned a short loop round the city centre into a major potter with lots of stops for photos.  We parked 'BJ' in the car park by the Race Course and crossed the bridge to walk along the river-side path by the Cricket Ground.

Some of the best shots of the Cathedral are from this side of the river. 

There's also a lovely open view across the meadows to the Malvern Hills.

This is the point at which the Birmingham to Worcester canal joins the River Severn.  The whole area around the canal basin is going through a slow process of re-generation.  They have built lots of new flats on the old industrial sites but many remain unsold.  It's just not a good time to build on this scale.

After a little more walking past the lock and the weir we arrived at the new footbridge.  This is another part of the regeneration scheme.  It has opened out a whole network of footpaths and cycle routes to the south of the city.

By this stage Mark looked ready to sit down for a bit, so we had morning coffee and cake in the gardens of a hotel by the river.  The 'Brownie' was amazing - it had huge chunks of white and dark chocolate in it!  The sugar and caffeine got us going again..

We walked up from the hotel to the small park on Fort Royal Hill.  This is definitely the best view of Worcester Cathedral and the surrounding medieval buildings.  It's a shame that there's a modern block in the foreground.

We then followed a little of the canal bank to complete the loop.  I was lucky enough to get this photo of a swan with her young family as we wandered along the towpath.

It's back to school tomorrow - the final haul through to the summer holidays and one of my busiest periods.  Next week is quite quiet - but then I have four different concerts, a parent's evening, a Key Stage 3 Presentation evening, an Oscars Night, a Fashion Show with live music, and a residential trip with Year 10 pupils in Derbyshire all in the space of a month.  Urgh.... I suppose that it pays the mortgage!!!!

Mark, on the other hand, is going nowhere tomorrow.  He has been told very firmly that he's got to sit at home and let his face mend for a while longer yet.   Tom (the cat) is delighted.