Today was my
worst day of the walk so far.
Needless to
say I had troubles navigating out of Tewkesbury. There were just so many paths
and waterways and access roads. Not a good start.
And today it
was raining. And like yesterday my route was long the River Severn. After an hour
of walking along its banks along the muddy seldom used trail, in the rain, I’d
had enough so turned to the nearby B roads. I was rewarded by the usual procession
of lovely Tudor houses.
At one point I
stopped at a house undergoing renovations and the builders escorted me through
the house to show me their work. One said the house was owned by solicitors and
worth £500,000.
At midday I
came into the town if Upton on Severn. A pretty town with copious pubs and
small shops, including a chippy where I refuelled. I also called into a book
shop to check on guides to the Severn Way but the shop owner said it was not
very popular.
The rain grew
heavier as the day progressed so I abandoned the soulless and muddy Severn Way
altogether, looking forward to reaching the village of Kempsey, namesake of the
Kempsey in New South Wales where Haydon and Jenna were born. Alas Kempsey had
nothing to recommend it that I could see though I took a few photos to mark the
occasion.
Just out of Kempsey
I took off my backpack to get out my MP3 player, but it froze as soon as I turned
it on so I switched to my spare one, which went straight to fairly sombre
music.
On the
outskirts of Worcester I came upon the viewing platform overlooking the site of
the last battle of the English Civil War. I reached for my camera but it was
missing. The Velcro fastening was open and just ineffective in the wet
conditions. I thought I’d backed up the photos onto my laptop the previous
night but I’d only saved the ones I’d reduced in resolution for the Blog.
I retraced my
steps but the camera was nowhere to be seen. Until recently the camera battery
and SD card both bore labels with my contact details. Alas I’d replaced them
both and had nor re-labelled the new ones.
So I’ve lost
all the photos I have taken on the trip to far.
I filed a lost
property report with the local police but do not hold out much confidence.
And today the
mouse on my netbook stopped working. And yesterday I discovered my Kindle was
no longer working.
My worst day.
