Day 28: Worcester to Stourport on Severn

Distance: 13.4 miles
Skies: blue

Our luck with the weather on this trip has been really unbelievable, and it looks like our lucky streak will continue. My biggest weather related problem is that I didn't bring any sunscreen, so I've got a bit of sunburn on my neck where some rays snuck in past the brim of my hat. It just never occurred to me that sunscreen belongs in your pack for a March walk in England. Along the same lines, the first thing we did after arriving at our B&B today was head to the high street to buy Dawn some shorts - it's just too warm for her black leggings. In the meantime, we're carrying packs full of long underwear and wool layers and rainproof shells that we've barely used. The ten day forecast is for more of the same: day after day of eighteen degrees and sunshine. Every morning I must remember to reflect on our good fortune and remind myself not to become complacent.



That's a picture of a building we saw coming out of Worcester - can you read the sign and see what it is? A little more fancy than I'm used to seeing at home - it really would be fun to stay there!


Worcester was a great city to spend our second rest day. Most important, it has a laundromat. Also, it's really beautiful. The Severn cuts a stately path, and on the water are swans, canal boats, and people rowing. On the shores are streets and buildings made from the reddish stones they quarry here, including the spectacular cathedral - they claim it is the most interesting in England, and who am I to argue? We spent an hour or two walking around and through it.


The cathedral was founded in 680, but that building is now dust. The oldest part of the current building is the crypt, built in 1084 - we walked through it; they still worship there every day. There's lots of famous dudes buried in the church, including this coffin which contains the bones of King John.


The only things I know about him are that he signed the Magna Carta (in 1215) and that Robin Hood didn't like him. I've read a little more, and now I know that he was also kind of a dick. His effigy has two little King Johns on either side of his head - no idea what that's all about, but it looks cool.


The son of Henry the seventh, Prince Arthur, is also buried here. Arthur was married at age 15 to a redhead, Catherine of Aragon, and he was supposed to become King. Pretty sweet! But he got sick and died during the honeymoon. So instead Arthur's kid brother Henry ended up with the red headed wife and became the next king - and you all know how that worked out.


Lots of the plaques for the dead are in Latin, so I couldn't really figure out who they were. Like this awesome looking knight.


The place is just filled with all kinds of amazing detail in the stone work, and the stuff on the walls, the windows. Really cool. Here's one more, of a guy named Edes, who was chaplain to Elizabeth the first back in the 1500s, and who apparently had no eyes.


If you look close (at the stone not the picture) you can see that they eyes have been worn down. I thought it was interesting that a lot of the effigies had been vandalized over the centuries, apparently to smear the reputation of the dead dudes.

The windows around the cloister show off periods in the history of England. Here's the one from 1615-1714, with the important people from that period: kings, queens, bishops, writers.


Check out the detail in the pane just lower left of center.


It's a fisherman! Isaac Walton. According to the church, a fisherman is one of the most important people in the seventeenth century. Dad, I guess you were right about the importance of fishing!

So yesterday, we visited the big church at Worcester. Today, we visited two small country churches. Church yards have become a favorite stopping place for us. They are a predictable, constant feature of the landscape: the countryside is dotted with villages, footpaths go through the villages, every village has a church, and every church has a bench where you can sit and eat, or rest, or just enjoy the setting. And if there happen to be people about, they welcome you.


This is St Bartholomew's church in Grimley. We stopped there to drop our packs, and take a little rest. I was walking around taking some pictures when a weathered man with a nearly impenetrable accent came by and asked me something. I nodded and smiled. He asked if we'd like to go in and look around, and took out a big keying, and opened the door (based on our unscientific sampling, about half the churches lock their doors, which I think is kind of sad, but I understand).


The man kept saying how we two must be educated, and how we've probably seen a lot of churches. Finally I figured out that he was asking me if I was an archeologist. We had an interesting, surreal conversation ranging from the times (kids these days!) to politics (the current lot are all corrupt!) to other bits where I couldn't figure out a word he was saying.


Larry pointed out in the last post that we could have just taken 100 pictures of a church on the first day, and then been using them every day. And that would fool a lot of people, including me, and Larry. But I'm slowly learning the differences between these places. It's like watching Antiques Roadshow. Every old chair looks exactly the same. Until some old dude with a mustache shows what makes this one special, and that one a pile of kindling. An obvious difference that I like is seeing how the color changes from church to church, matching the color of the local soil. But other differences I don't understand. Like, here is the second church of our day, St Martin's, a few miles up the road in Holt.


It has a lot in common with St Bartholomew's, but there are differences - and I wish I knew what they meant. For example, why does the tower on this one have pinnacles, and the other one doesn't? I'm sure it means something.

We also saw sheep today. Here's one looking right at you!


She was a nice sheep, though not Dawn's favorite kind. Dawn prefers the sheep with the black heads. And look, here's a baby sheep!


I think that tomorrow will be our longest day yet - along the Severn to Bridgnorth. We don't really know how long it will be, since my planning numbers have been not so accurate, but we're guessing about 20 miles.

Location:Stourport-on-Severn,United Kingdom