#18: Wortley Hill - Somerset Monument

Sunken Green Lane

Ivy & Virginia Creeper

Glancing Light

Woven Floor Grill

As I'm progressing south the walk is becoming a little less cotswold-like. Certainly there are fewer ups and downs and fewer stone walls. And now the route has turned almost due south and is distancing itself from the continual low level background sound of the traffic on the M5. Parts of today's walk were so peaceful that the only sound I could hear was occasional birdsong, or the crarking of ravens or the mewing cries of buzzards, and now and again a distant farm tractor. But periodically the peace was shattered by an explosion of alarm calls and feathers as a pheasant broke cover just feet away from me, deciding not to sit quietly and let me pass.

We're obviously into autumn now but I'm surprised how green all of the trees still are. There are some signs of leaves on a few species of tree starting to turn colour but the first frost can't be far off which will accelerate the whole process.

One stretch of the walk - on the side of Wortley Hill if I recall correctly - was along a very deep cutting. A sort of deeply hidden green lane. There have been several others, but none as deep and long as this one. In a couple of places there were what appeared to be badger setts amongst the roots of old beech trees as well as many other smaller holes which must have housed various species of wild life. This was another place in which the sides were lined with hartstounge ferns but whilst the breeze was very gentle it was still just too much to photograph. I did actually find one patch to photograph which perhaps was just calm enough though I'm not certain the picture will pass muster. And I made a couple of b&w pictures in the Georgian church at Alderley - normally only open at the weekends but the lady doing the church flowers let me in for a few minutes - thank you.

I met several groups today walking the whole of the Way including one couple from Belgium. Compared with most of my previous days' walking this was almost crowded - but it was still only once every hour or so.

Totting up the miles I find that I'm now three quarters of the way to Bath. It will soon be time to decide whether to do it all again as a winter and spring walk - or find a new project.