Gloucs & Worcs (June ‘19) - Day 8

The Old Orchard site sits on top of a hill. Not only does this give it the great views but it also provides a gentle cooling breeze which, given the heat of the sun today, was as appreciated as the vista.

The discipline of writing this blog has become my new “work e-mail”. What I mean by that is I don’t look forward to it, know if I don’t do it I’ll regret it and feel very virtuous when it is complete. I suppose that is no bad thing as it helps “wean” me off work and into a non-work life?!

When the weather is good you do spend virtually every second of the day outdoors. Just in 2 days of sun my skin is resembling a cricket ball towards the end of its active life.

The late night last night meant a bit of lie in. A leisurely coffee enjoying the morning sun and then off to Tesco’s at Stourport on Severn. For the purpose of this blog it was to stock up with a few provisions (beer and things) but if you refer back to yesterdays blog and this site’s lack of certain facilities, you may work out for yourselves the main reason for the 5 mile trip. 

Stourport is a weird (but interesting) place. Lots of water activity with the river and the canal but it reminded me of a sea side resort with its big fair, crazy golf, amusements and slightly tired high street. Definitely worth a proper visit at some stage.

The heavy traffic in Stourport (I think the river crossing makes it a bit of a bottle neck) meant we didn’t get back to the site until 12.45. Bobby and I got Isabella up and pegged out in under 90 minutes. She glided on fairly easily (the silicon spray definitely helping), the wind didn’t help the pole erection but overall this was the best yet and a B+ score for speed and elegance of final finish!

Tilly even chipped in!

Time for a very quick lunch of Heinz beans, sourdough toast and Oxford sauce http://oxfordfinefood.com/baron-pouget%E2%80%99s-oxford-sauce.html/. I am specific about the ingredients of this seemingly simple lunch because you may want to replicate it? It’s a wonderful spin on a basic meal. OMG, now I’m giving culinary advice ... whatever next?

We walked the 45 minute walk into Ombersley village. The route through tiny back roads and bridleways was great. I think we only met one car and no other dog walkers - which was a bit strange really given the loveliness of the weather?

We planned to meet Kim at Ombersley but she had a horrendous journey (partly caused by heavy traffic and partly caused by ... oh well, let’s just leave it at that!). We waited for about an hour. Firstly at a splendid little local coffee shop / butchers called Checketts https://www.checketts.co.uk/ and then, to avoid the heat of the sun, under the shade of the trees in the park opposite.

Back to Brunnehilda for Kim to tag Bobby and send him home. He did the journey in half the time - the traffic was clearly better?

We went into Worcester for an evening stroll by the river and a very nice Chinese / Malay meal at the Singapore Restaurant http://www.singaporerestaurant.co.uk/  The food was very tasty and very generous helpings. Highly recommend the satay sticks! I think our enjoyment of the food was further enhanced by how bloody hungry we both were by this time (about 8.30).

When we returned, we planned to have a cup of tea and a game of backgammon - in the spirit of the rock and roll lifestyle we were now leading - but Brunnehilda’s big bed was more tempting to our tired limbs so, that’s where we went.