Day 23 - Bewdley to Bridgnorth
Felt I was being a pain at breakfast! Had to keep asking for things ie white sugar ('cos I'm fussy), brown sauce and decided not to go for the full house by asking for another pack of marmalade! Clearly no donation to my efforts here! Also got woken up at 6.30 AM by a tractor left running right underneath my window! Anyway, no sign of rain today as the sun was brightly shining albeit it was a little chilly so still donning the winter running gear. Stayed on the left bank of the river this time and after briefly following the Worcestershire Way (marked by a pear sign), picked up the North Worcestershire Way (marked by a fircone). Nice wide grassy tracks right next to the river with the Severn Railway following the same route on the right hand bank. I passed what was left of the old bridge of the disused line which crossed the river just north of Bewdley and then just before the Trimpley Reservoir the first steam train came along heading for Bridgnorth. After hearing the familiar horn, I legged it for around 200 metres (no mean feat with a full backpack!) in order to get a view of the train through the trees. Just afterwards the train crossed the river over a lovely metalled bridge and I was gutted that I hadn't managed to get this far as it would have made a brilliant picture. I wasn't sure how long it would be before the train arrived coming from Bridgnorth but decided to press on anyway. Again, it was extremely muddy underfoot when travelling in the woods and I met a group of mountain bikers who weren't doing a great deal of good to the footpaths anyway (I'm sounding old aren't I!?). The Severn Valley Country Park was about half way so decided to take a slight detour and grab a sandwich and cup of coffee - there was a great view of the valley from the cafe window and another train came round the side of the valley which was great timing as that made a great picture. I transferred briefly to the cycle way which ran alongside the railway line as far as the station at Hampton Loade and then picked up the Severn Way again alongside the river. Just before getting into Bridgnorth I missed the temporary redirection signpost for the Severn Way and instead, followed a rather overgrown footpath a bit too close to the river - there were quite a few landslides and I was scrabbling periously close to the edge at points! It was only when I reached the road at the other side that I saw the 'temporarily closed' sign! Bridgnorth is actually at the top of the hill but to reach it I had to climb one of at least 6 flights of steps. The market town was buzzing which surprised me for a Sunday afternoon. Got a few provisions (chocolate to eat whilst watching the film tonight and another bottle of Lucozade for my journey tomorrow!) and then ran through the town arch and headed towards the small village of Nordley where I was staying for the night. The Albynnes is a large country house farming sheep and with the long downhill run on the private drive, gave me a fab initial view...definitely got the thumbs up! Melissa has kindly lent me the use of her laptop to update the blog and she's also washing my running gear!
Mileage 20.06 and time 4.32