Soot the 20 year old cat was munching his elevenses when we put our shoes on, and set off for the Bidford Teashops & Taverns walk at 11.37am; there was a lot of sun everywhere, dandelions on the verges, and a reasonable number of people in the town. There was a massive ferris-wheel by the river in Stratford, then we got to this ‘Big Meadow’ in Bidford – by the river, and set off at 12.23pm.

There were some people in a playground like area, I saw a sign for riverside dog grooming, boats called ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Bob’, what looked like riverside allotments, a graveyard, lots of dogs – including a black Labrador loving having a ball lobbed for him or her, a small boat called ‘The Answer’, and a big canal boat called ‘One, Two, Three’ (and as we walked through fields of broad beans, the Labrador met a small Terrier and they appeared very fond of each other).

There were a couple of geese on the river, and several ducks flew past and landed (surprisingly gracefully) on the water, big lilly pads were floating along, a little boat called Freedom went past, and a soaked Spaniel was carrying a tennis ball; a swan was drifting down the river and several more were having a good look round the fields of crops on the other side, and some younger ones (who were partially brown) were drinking as they drifted along.

A sign termed the slope on the side of the path a cliff, we approached the weir and Morcliff lock…

…which had a weir level monitoring gauge and 3 men about to open the lock; a sign by the bridge said that a generous donation from the Inland Waterways Association enabled Royal Engineers, men from Gloucester Gaol, and other volunteers to build the lock in July -> August 1969…

…I noticed a horse when looking back – and the path continued around the edge of what looked like an old racecourse. A propeller plane could be heard by 1.15pm and a couple of massive birds were enjoying the wind in the sky, there were dandelions everywhere around the edge of a field of wheat, and further along the path, a pheasant erupted out of the undergrowth and went to join a friend in the field. There were some very thick trunked and clearly ancient trees to the side of the path, a couple of horses on a nearby hilltop, quite a few jet trails in the sky, and another sign warning that loose dogs will be shot; we went up a rather steep and dark path of very cracked and dry earth…

…and reached the top of what the book termed ‘the escarpment’ –at 1.37pm, and kept going along a bridleway encapsulated by blossomy trees. After crossing a dry and cracked 2nd field of wheat, the path went past a couple of little allotments – 1 of which had vegetables growing in 2 old bathtubs…

…there was a gate at the end of the path (by a long drive) which appeared to say ‘Froglands Farm’ on it, and as we reached the farm shop we passed a field with 2 horses in, and got to Froglands Lane – where 3 locals were taking a walk. There were cottages named ‘Pear Tree Cottage’, and ‘The Old Cottage’, a house that said 1887 on it, another house that had a pig dressed as a chef statue next to a recipe book in its window, a house called Stonecroft, The Old Post House, and a ginormous topiary bush trimmed to look like a peacock – in front of Peacock House.

We sat down on a bench by this topiary bush (and were at number 6 of the walk) at 2.07pm, a 15th century church was just down the road, a man (driving an electric car and looking like he was in a bit of a rush) asked Mum if she knew where the school was, there was lots of birds twittering, and daisies and dandelions everywhere, and a thatched roof on a house made me wonder how much thatching costs. We got going again at 2.22pm, went through the church yard, there were a lots of fig buttercups along the next bit, and the Manor House had a big pond and a statue of a heron in it; we crossed a plank of wood/tiny bridge into a field with about 10 horses in it (and a lot of horse poo) and the next field was lots and lots of broad beans (and lots and lots of birds twittering in the hedge – and I could hear a propeller plane), followed by 1 of some sort of cereal crop – and by then, the road was audible. A lot of old branches and bits of cardboard had been piled up at the end of a line of blossomy trees (Mum thought they were apple trees) that led to a building, and once across another field (with dandelions everywhere) and a stile – the road became visible and I could hear sheep noises.

3 stiles and 3 fields later we went through a field with 11 cows in it (1 of them appeared to be licking another 1)…

…and then down some very steep steps, and reached the village of Marlcliff at 3.07pm.

There was a ‘Peapod Cottage’, a ‘Temple Farm’ house – which has some flamingo statues in the front garden and a rocking horse in a front window; and the footpath went through 2 empty fields and 1 ginormous 1 of yellow rape, over a small bridge/plank of wood, 2 more fields of wheat and 1 more gate, then we reached the village sports ground and playground at 3.25pm, and we were back at the car at 3.31pm.

On the way home, I saw a house called ‘Appletreewick’ in Bidford, Seven Meadows Road in Stratford had a banner for the Bear Pit Theatre Company on a fence, there were a lot of people in the town centre, the size of the houses on the road Mum termed Millionaires Row was as gobsmacking as always, a big propeller plane flew over as we passed Wellesbourne, there were gypsies on the verge of the A429 – with horses, their caravans and woodcarvings, and a little spider had appeared on my notepad, so I spent the rest of the drive – and time sat in a supermarket car park concentrating very hard on keeping this spider on my notepad – and it started spinning a web between the rings.