“The Outdoor Type”

I may not have posted for a week, but that doesn’t mean I’ve not been busy. I won’t detail every little thing I’ve done, but suffice to say I’ve been enjoying the great outdoors and the surprisingly good English summer weather!

Last Wednesday we had a very delicious BBQ at Steph’s house and sat eating and drinking into the night, along with most of Steph’s immediate family – which was very pleasant, and even more amusing!

On Sunday after taking what seemed life forever to get out of bed and think about doing anything, Steph and I went to Clent Hills with my folks (check my moblog) for a very long walk around the hills, in and out of the trees. We saw various forms of wildlife, some cyclists, other walkers, a mini-stonehenge, a topography, and a mini-castle, which I may add was quite impressive – I want one. Considering Clent Hills is so close (only 8 miles from Birmingham), I’m surprised I’ve never been there before. It’s a really scenic spot and you can see for miles up there. Places we spotted included The Wrekin, the Malvern Hills, Dudley, the Black Mountains on the Welsh border and good old Barr Beacon (just up the road from where I live!).

On the way home we stopped at a lovely country pub and ate some very nice food – I had deep fried Brie wedges, which narrowly got the vote over Wild Boar Sausages (next time!) and sipped on a nice gold bottle of Magners! We arrived home completely worn out and vegged in front of the TV watching ‘The Constant Gardener’ which while quite sad, was a very good film I thought. I was very glad we spent the day outside as I’d woken up feeling so lethargic I probably could have slept all day!

Steph had the day off work on Monday so after she’d finished spending 2 hours photographing butterflies in the garden, we ate lunch and headed up to Barr Beacon in the seething heat. The walk there was made hotter by the sun reflecting off all the concrete footpaths, and once we got up the hill there breeze was very welcome! We spent several hours walking around Barr Beacon, watching the Rabbits on top of the the underground emergency reservoir, eating ice creams and generally enjoying the sunshine.

We finally made it home and headed back over to Steph’s where she rustled up one of her many culinary specialities – Chicken Fajitas! Mmm.

[tags]Clent Hills, Barr Beacon, BBQ[/tags]