In the hot weather yesterday I walked from near Ascott in Warwickshire to the nearby village of Stourton, home of the Cotswold Distillery. As well as producing gin and whisky the distillery also houses a lovely cafe which served as my lunch stop.
It was about a 7 mile walk…..
On 15 April I had a day out and returned to the Malvern Hills as I had not been there for some years.
This time I started by walking up to the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill before returning to the car and moving it to another car park before climbing up to British Camp and the Herefordshire Beacon.
The black and white image was created in Tonality an app which has numerous presets for monochrome imagery.
A few years ago the Local History Group revised the walks booklet that had been on sale for a number of years. The number of walks was increased from 4 to 8 and covered the footpaths in most directions from the village.
From time to time I have been walking these routes making sure that they are still marked clearly with little or no obstructions. Sometimes I take bits of several of the walks and combine them to make it more interesting for me. Today was a case in point. The golf course was closed owing to snow so it was “Shanks Pony” for me today. I kept to the road for most of it walking from the house to Swerford before turning off for Wigginton and then returning home across the fields. The map of my route is below.
The booklet has now been published and is available from me at a cost of £4 plus P&P of £1.50. It has 48 pages with OS maps inside showing the routes. The cover is shown below.
Work on the revised walks booklet is progressing and we hope to get it printed in August. Colour maps will be a feature. Here is a map showing all eight routes. All of them start at St Peter’s Church.
Recently I have been testing the walking routes that will be in the revised Walks around Hooky booklet the local history group are producing. Here are a selection of images from my travels.
The UK is in virtual lock down in a concentrated effort to limit the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. We are allowed to shop for essentials, virtually all shops have closed save for supermarkets and other food retailers. We are lucky that our village shop remains open albeit with reduced opening hours. Exercise is allowed but we have to keep a 2m exclusion zone around us if we see others whilst we are out.
On Monday I was able to get into Banbury to buy compost and others bits and pieces to keep us occupied should a “lock down” be implemented. Fortunately the weather during this past week of “social distancing” has been very sunny and mild. As a result the garden has been tidied and the car cleaned both inside and out. We are lucky in that we have a fairly large garden and have therefore spent a lot of the days outside.
Non essential car trips are discouraged as last weekend several parks and beauty spots up and down the country were overwhelmed with visitors. The police now have powers to hand out fines to anyone they consider to be breaking these new “rules”.
We are taking turns to walk the dog. As he is 15 we do not need to go so far with him. Naturally we would like to go further but it is best to adhere to the guidelines that have been put in place. From what we have read online and in the newspapers there are varying degrees of virus. These range from very mild symptoms through to death. The death rate is rising and even some with no underlying health conditions are succumbing to it. However, so we are told, the majority will only get mild symptoms.
Are we worried? Not really, but it is a niggling thought that we might end up getting it. We have to remain positive and put up with the inconveniences that have been thrown at us all in these uncertain times. Theatres and cinemas, pub and restaurants will all reopen at some point and we look forward to these days.
Out for a walk on Wednesday afternoon. Image converted to B&W using Tonality – Dark Noir setting