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He said:
I decided to go on a walk from Bishop’s Castle along the Shropshire Way heading towards Wales. I left the backpack and the tripod in the room to lighten my load. After taking photos in and around the local church, I left town on a narrow track which soon went through a limitless series of sheep fields.
It was a very quiet day on the trail; I did not see another hiker all day, just sheep, birds, and other common animals. The Magpies and hawks all seem very skittish; they saw me and quickly flew away, no time to bring out the camera. It’s clearly still nesting season here, the crows, wood pigeons, and smaller birds often looked like they were gathering food or supplies for a nearby nest. The hawks were often getting chased and harassed by the crows, probably in order to protect a nest. I also saw and heard a couple crow rookeries. The spring season seems later than usual this year.
The skies were gray… mostly, and the forecasted sprinkles never happened. The few times that the sun came fully out, it quickly felt very warm and humid since the wind was also very light, especially in the protected valleys. After a few miles of hiking down the trail and with my ankles getting sore on the uneven ground of the sheep’s pastures, I ate my half lunch and then returned to Bishop’s Castle a little bit bored by the repetitious scenery.
She Said:
As expected, the scratchy throat is now a sore throat and the nose issues are now post nasal drip. A Cold's a comin'. Had a bit of a lie-in this morning while R hiked more of the Shropshire Way.
Rallied minimally and poked around in the local quirky shops.
A few instances of "yarn bombing" which really cracks me up. One covers the hand railings of a shop and one covers the iron posts of the fence in front of an old town hall. Yarn Bombing is a global phenomenon. Guerrilla knitters secretly size up the public structure to bombed, knit the cover at home, then, under cover of darkness, attach the knitted cover to the structure. There was one on a No Parking sign pole on Middlefield Road in Palo Alto for a few days last year, but is disappeared quickly. No sense of humor at Public Works, I guess.
Also witnessed the military jets flying, low and loud.
Bishop's Castle has a great many "Black and Whites" - Tudor-era buildings. They are now all at wonky angles, but the fact that they are still standing (and, in use) is pretty amazing.
St. John the Baptist is the parish Church for Bishop's Castle. The 1st Church on the site was built in 1291. Only the Baptismal Font and the Archway entrance remain of the original building. The Church burned down in 1592 and the next year the town was hit by the Plague. 174 people died; a lot considering the pop. of the town at the time was only a couple hundred. The Church was rebuilt, then burned down again, this time on purpose, by the Royalists as the Church was providing sanctuary to Parliamentarian sympathizers. It was completely rebuilt in 1860, and retains the look of a Victorian country Church.
An hour's walk wiped me out, so some kind of bug has got me. Time for a relaxing afternoon of reading.
Over and out.
Bishop's Castle
The Victorian parish church
The Shropshire Way
'Yarn Bombing'
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