Final Two Days in Stourport

Hello again all! Daniel again to finish off our log from Stourport.

Thursday began like most of the rest, with lazing around, showerng and general relaxation (read: getting psyched up for the rest of the trip). We then walked into town to look around and get some stuff we needed. We headed down to the shop where Lisa works to buy some ice creams, then headed to a souvenir shop for some postcards, then the local co-op store for postage and coffee (where I wrote some postcards), then to a few charity shops and a bookstore, then to Emma's workplace to pick up some toiletries we'd run low on. It was a beautiful day and it was great to walk around and explore Stourport, it has a very cozy feel to it.

After returning for lunch (dinner), we walked over to Lisa's house, where we met her, Sophie, Brad, and Jean and headed off to explore the countryside around Stourport. We walked through a massive field by Lisa's house, which made me realize how very few open spaces there are back home that aren't either blocked off or turned into proper parks with paths and playgrounds, it was a weird feeling walking through a feild that was being used for nothing. We headed down a few overgrown paths towards a wier on the Severn (nicknamed Stourport's Niagara Falls). It was really nice to be out in the open by the river. It was all secluded and peaceful, and with a nice view to boot!

Open Fields

WIER on Severn

Daniel and Jean

From there we trekked up and down hills until we got to Stourport's famed Redstone Caves. This is a massive series of caves naturally formed in the red coloured stone of the clifface by the Severn. Many of the street names in the neighbourhood in which we were staying had connections with a hermit who used to live in the caves, and who walked through that part of town to get to the church from which he preached.

Awesome Red Caves

After that we trekked back to Lisa's and had a well-deserved cup of tea while resting our aching feet. W stayed there swapping old stories for a few hours before getting a ride back to Karen's for dinner (tea). It was somewhat quieter as Hollie was in London for the day on a school trip and wasn't getting back until much later, so it was only the five of us eating. Afterwards we continued our ritual of retiring to the living room to watch TV, including the show Dynamo, who is basically an amped up British Chris Angel: Mindfreak. It was pretty awesome. Later on Hollie was dropped off, and we got to hear all of her London stories and see all of her souvenirs before sleeping.

The next morning involved lots of laundry and packing as we tried to get ourselves ready to head off again. We then had a small lunch before heading off with Morris to pick Hollie up from her last day at school (half day) and head over to the nearby town of Bewdly to see its museum. The museum was really interesting, documenting everything about the Severn Valley, from the local flora and fauna to the historic jails that were used, to machines from old industries, to a World War II air raid shelter. It was awesome to be able to see all of the history there, and so many of the exhibits were interactive (I got to play with a 19^th century rope-braiding machine!

Ropes

A Nice Pond

WW2 Bunker

Brass Usages

Old Clock

Old Typewriter

Daniel and Hollie Climbing

After the museum we walked around Bewdley's riverside, stopped for some chips, and headed back home. Once there we saw Emma and Ste to say our farewells, then took Robyn and Hollie on a walk into town and treated them to ice cream and sweets, which we proceeded to eat in Stourport's amazing playground (seriously, nothing like what kids have back in Canada).

Enormous Park

After getting back we lazed around the house until dinner (tea), after which we walked over to Jean and Morris' again for a cup of tea. We chatted some more and heard even more stories (you'd think Jean would run out at some point, but she always had a new interesting story to share with us).

That evening everyone stayed up late (no more school), watching TV and talking. There was a lot of discussion on the differences between British and Canadian language, and Hollie enjoyed asking us to say various words and names in our Canadian accent.

We headed off the next day, but I'll leave that part to Kamaljot, who will be taking back control of the blog after this. I just wanted to end off by thanking everyone from Stourport again for opening up their homes and being so welcoming to us, we had an amazing time because of it! Please come over and visit soon so we can try and repay the favour.

Cheers,

Daniel