Wordsley, Stourbridge, England: 18 degrees, cool, sunny and slightly overcast.
Today has been a special day for me regarding my stay in England. I visited Clint Hills, a childhood treasure.
Today is a bank holiday in Brazil, for Corpus Christi, so it’s a day off and the start of a long weekend. I woke up early, exercised both indoors and outdoors on the backdoor patio, skipped and used elastic bands for weight training and muscle building.
I am noticing a difference from using the elastics regularly, and I have been exercising consistently for the last 2-3 years; I am still learning and improving.
I prepped and posted a blog entry, and Julie picked me up around 10:30, nearly 11:00. The day’s a bit rubbish, cold, drizzly, and definitely not the best day to go out. Austin, the man, was with us. I suggested to Julie Clint Hills, whom I hadn’t visited since being in England. We put it into the car’s GPS, and in less than 20 minutes, we arrived. We made one or two wrong turns, but that’s all part of the journey.
A bit like life itself!
Clent Hills is a group of hills that are neither very large nor very high, but are very popular with locals for walks, with or without dogs, as well as with tourists. You enter the base of the hills through a small, discreet side street that leads up to the foot, with some houses, a car park, a closed restaurant, and a café restaurant.
When I was a child, there were horses with riders or guides who led the horses for children riding them. It was common for parents to pay for their children to take a short horseback ride along some paths in the hills, usually lasting about an hour.
I saw a large horse and rider emerge from behind the central row of houses; there is probably still a stable behind them.
Not much has changed in the last 40-50 years. When I was a child, my father often took us, and at that time, we would bring along some cardboard from boxes and use it as makeshift sledges to slide down the hills in the summer, as the hills are pretty steep in places, with long, silvery grass. It allowed us to slide down the slopes, often resulting in scratches and burns that took a couple of days to heal, but we loved it.
Today, Julie, Austin -The Man, and I walked up; it seems there is much denser vegetation than in the past and than what I remember. There are many more trees, small woods, ferns, and areas for new plantations or conservation efforts. Clearly, environmentalism is much more serious nowadays than it was before. What was possible and enjoyable in the past now seems impossible today.
Once again, it appears to be another reference to how life has changed!
We walked up to the first high peak; there are many others further on and higher, but, due to the drizzly, cold weather, which was starting to take effect and cut through us, the wind becomes as sharp as a knife with the cold. We decided it was better to head back down as conditions worsened. If we had continued, we would have reached a ridge where I would have flown a radio-controlled glider in my early teens.
Austin was loving the walk. The truth is, he trots more than walks or runs; it is quite impressive. He’s able to cover large areas or distances at a quick pace without breaking a sweat from running or getting tired.
Back at the foot of the hills, there is a very impressive café, a brasserie-style restaurant. We entered; it was dog-friendly, and we found a large round table in the middle of the room to have breakfast. We ordered two English breakfasts, and they arrived piping hot, which was a pleasant surprise.
English people love their food hot, but nowadays it seems to be a bit of a rarity. The café itself is very well appointed in a traditional English farmhouse style, with a thick, heavy wooden floor, white walls, large, heavy wooden ceiling beams, and a few ornaments and fittings scattered around, reminding you that we are in the countryside.
This is probably the first complete English breakfast since I arrived in England six months ago, and it didn’t disappoint; it was perfect—sausage, bacon, baked beans, eggs, black pudding, fried mushrooms and tomatoes, and toast. It is a breakfast, but more of a full meal to me, and it was exceptional.
We paid, left, and collected the car. On the way back, we stopped at the Stewponey, which was once a large pub and restaurant for many years, but has now been converted into high-end flats. There is also a small wharf there, where the canal passes in front; in one direction it leads to Stourbridge, in the other to Wolverhampton, and in the other to Kinver.
A central basin branches off in three opposite directions. We parked in a small side car park beside the road and walked down to the canal. The weather had improved, the drizzle had stopped, the sun was out, and it was warmer.
I hadn’t known this part of the canal before, and it was simply astonishing. The landscape was different from what I was used to, and perhaps because of this, it seemed even more beautiful than usual, with lots of greens and browns, and the gentle rustling of the trees was quite delightful.
Here, there appeared to be more narrowboats with people living on them. We spoke to a family with two small greyhounds, who told us how wonderful it was to have two such elegant and affectionate dogs.
Back at the car, Julie suddenly thought of taking Austin to a nearby nursery, garden centre to give him a bath in the automated self-service dog bath.
We parked the car in front of the nursery, where a glass greenhouse-like structure housed an automated dog-wash station made of stainless steel and glass. It had a stainless-steel bath, a hose for water, and another for a hair dryer to blow air and dry the dog at the end. There was a panel to select modes with instructions. We went to the cashier inside the nursery and asked for some change — £7 for a complete dog wash and blow-dry.
After quite a bit of fighting, wrestling, and such, we got to put Austin in the large stainless-steel bath, insert the token, and start the machine to give him a warm-water bath with shampoo. He hated it, Julie loved it, and I probably did about 70% of the work. It was a very rewarding experience, and for me, it felt like we were married; it was strange but very nice.
Julie dropped me off, as always, we parted ways, and I was in bed by 11:00 p.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
