April 30

Slept in until 7 o'clock ,everyone up having a cup of tea. Looks like another lovely day. Breakfast on the deck again. We left for our morning excursion about 9 a.m. Stopped at Llanymynech Golf Club to see if there might be an opportunity for me to play a game tomorrow with a member. Nothing open now but they took Steve's number in case an opening comes. We then drove to south Shropshire to the Cardingmill Valley in Church Stretton. We did a 9.1 kilometer walk up into the hills along the top and back down in a circuit. The top elevation was 515 meters it took about two hours and 25 minutes. It was very steep going up and of course on the way down. 

The scenery was stunning and there were lots of sheep and free roaming horses even some foals. 


Mara walked with us. 

After getting back to the car we drove to the  Little Stretton and stopped at the Ragleth Inn pub. I ordered cod goujons ( pieces) on a baguette. The cod was excellent. The guys had a gold ale and I had a bitter, all local - 43 pounds. Next door to the pub was a beautiful old church- All Saints Little Stretton which had a thatched roof that they was in the process of being restored. We get home at 4 p.m. and we're all tired but not enough to go to sleep. It was a lovely sunny day, 21 degrees. Caroline got home at 5:45, she had been babysitting Thomas and Amy's daughter Eva. At 6:30 we left to walk to a pub,  The Docks. It took about 25 minutes and was a comfortable walk even after all the hiking we had done today.  There was a good crowd there for a Thursday night but Steve had reserved a table. Quite a diverse menu. Dean and Caroline had a fish dish, Steve had duck and I had braised ox cheek which was excellent. It was done in a treacle gravy with mushrooms and lots of fresh vegetables. Of course a beer didn't go astray. 
We walked back home under a nearly full moon Steve saw a shooting star and we saw the Space Station hurtling through the sky. There is no light pollution so the sky was full of stars. We arrived home about 10, sat and talked and had a whiskey (Welsh) before going off to bed. Caroline had swapped out my heavy comforter for a sheet and I used to light bedspread over the top. I slept a much more comfortable sleep.

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