Wagga Wagga to Worcestershire & back again
My enthusiasm for walking/exploring was reignited last week after a visit to St Wulstan’s Nature Reserve, so much so that I’m trying to get out a few times a week while the weather’s warm for a wander and a nose around.
If you’ll allow me to indulge myself, I was thinking I might start up a bit of a series over the next few weeks detailing my roams across the countryside.
Today we’ll take a walk along a disused rail line…
For as long as I can remember being alone never really bothered me. Although I’m fairly sociable by nature, I can easily entertain myself for hours with books, music, films, cooking and daily chores. Before Adam and I met, I’d lived by myself for a number of years and was quite used to the peaceful solitude ‘flying solo’ provided. Of course life changed (and for the better) when we moved in together, and while I love being in a couple and living with my significant other, I still relish snippets of time by myself.
The nature of Adam’s work means he’s often away for a few nights a week, so I regularly still get a little ‘me time’. This week however he’ll depart for a three week long stint abroad. It’ll be the longest we’ve been away from each other since we met and I’ve got mixed feelings about the separation. I’m going to miss him like crazy but am trying to focus on the positives and the extended ‘me time’ I’ll have.
I’ve started mentally compiling a list of things I’m looking forward to doing…
I love going for a walk but sometimes I forget how much I enjoy it, and days turn into weeks and suddenly it’s been far too long since I went for a proper solo ramble.
I love that exhilaration you get when you’re walking with no particular path in mind, the joy of discovering new sights, the sweetness of being alone with your own thoughts and that pink cheeked endorphin rush you get after a good paced, athletic walk.
The other day I was up early so decided to get outdoors and go for a walk rather than having a slow morning lazing/working in bed over multiple cups of coffee (a decadent treat I’m too regularly giving myself on non ‘gotta get out the house’ mornings).
I found myself at St Wulstan’s Nature Reserve…
Malvern may be famous for its hills but there are also a couple of lovely commons at the base of the slopes.
Commons are like huge open plan parks. They often have livestock grazing on them and you’re allowed to walk, picnic and play on the land. In Australia, I think a reserve would be the closest equivalent.
Last weekend Adam and I found ourselves at Castlemorton Common, which is just south of the village of Welland. It’s famous for being the site of England’s biggest illegal rave, but these days is just a nice place for a Sunday walk!
A large field in the English countryside, warm sun, blue sky and blooming flowers five foot tall, as far as the eye can see. That was my Sunday.
A few weeks ago I spotted a post on Facebook about a Worcestershire flower farm that opens its fields to visitors every July.
The owners of the farm harvest its flowers to produce floral ‘confetti’ for weddings and other events, but lets people visit its delphinium and cornflower field before the stems are stripped.
Adam and I made the short journey to Wick, a gorgeous little village just outside of Pershore, for a look…
Oxford is the sort of place where you spend most of your time looking up. The architecture in this city is breathtaking and I’m certain during my brief visit last weekend, I tripped over half a dozen times because I just couldn’t take my eyes off the magnificent buildings all around!
The city is famous of course because of Oxford University, the oldest university in the English speaking world. The first teachings in Oxford are believed to have occurred in 1096! Oxford has been on my ‘world wide bucket list’ for some time, so en route to meeting up with some friends in London, Adam and I dropped in for a wander.
After teasing us and offering up a warm day or two here and there over the last few months, summer arrived in England this week.
We’ve had a solid six days in a row of temperatures in the high 20s, low 30s. It’s even prompted official government warnings, about beating the heat. Friends and Adam’s family have been asking all about how we Aussies cope with weather like this for months at a time.
When you go on a road trip in Australia you inevitably end up stopping at a ‘servo’ to refuel the car, use the bathroom and eat. On busy routes there might be a ‘service centre’ where there is a petrol station and several fast food outlets, but on many country roads, it’s an old style road house – essentially a petrol station with a cafeteria attached.
In England, the ‘service centre’ is known as ‘services’ and most are akin to what you find on the Hume Highway at Yass. As I’ve learnt over the past few months though, there are fancy road-side stops in a few select locations. Welcome to the world of ‘posh services’…
Isn’t it amazing how when you go away and then come back home again you pick up on changes you never noticed before?
The day after returning from Scotland I spent almost a good hour poking around the garden, amazed at all the new flowers that had suddenly appeared.
Thanks to the internet, it’s been relatively easy for me to keep in contact with family and friends back in Australia. Emails, wifi text messaging apps and video chats make the distance between Adam, myself and our loved ones ‘down under’ seem minimal. For a couple of members of my family though, this sort of communication just doesn’t work. My grandparents aren’t online, so my grandmother and I have taken to exchanging handwritten letters.
Wattle and Ash 