A riverside walk

[rosie55.livejournal.com]

Last week when I was off work poorly, a friend took me out one day for a pub lunch and a walk, saying the fresh air would be good for my sinuses! She may have been right. Naturally, I  took my camera with me! So this sequence is of my walk along the river.

We chose to a go to a riverside pub/restaurant at a little village called Arlingham about ten miles from where I live. Arlingham is quite remote - almost five long winding miles along narrow country lanes from the main road and very self-contained. I know this because when I first moved to Gloucestershire to work, I lived in this village for a couple of years and it still has a special place in my heart.

The river Severn is tidal, all the way to Gloucester and it winds around in curves and is quite wide and deep with nasty currents. The currents and quicksands claimed so many shipwrecks from ships on their way up to Gloucester (which is an inland port with extensive docks) that a ship canal was built from Sharpness to Gloucester which opened in 1827 when it was the largest and deepest ship canal in the world. There is also a dock at Sharpness but neither dock any longer sees much of the commercial work which made them so busy in their heyday. All the same, Gloucester Docks are now something of a tourist attraction and are also home to a couple of full sized three masted sailing ships - there is nothing quite as thrilling as driving along a country road, minding your own business, only to spot a full sized three masted sailing ship  in stately progression up the canal, just across the fields! This means , of course, that even now any bridges have to be able to open or swing to allow these full sized ships access  to Gloucester. A new bypass was built around the Western side of Gloucester recently and that included a sophisticated  swing bridge. And a few weeks ago, while other motorists were looking grumpy when we got caught on the wrong side just as it was about to open for a boat (unfortunately not a sailing ship!) to pass through, I quite enjoyed watching the whole operation!

Back to Arlingham. We opted for a light lunch at the restaurant which specialises in fish and delicious it was, too. This is the view from the restaurant.  and this  looking the other way
across the river. This is the pub,  which is called the Passage Inn.  This is because there was once a chain ferry across the river here, so you could get passage to the other side. Legend has it that at low tide it is possible, if you know the river really well, to walk across to the village on the other side, Newnham-on-Severn. I did know one old local who claimed to have done it, just once, as a youth but he always said how dangerous it was, because of the quicksands! Funnily enough, I was never tempted to have a go!
Arlingham is on a peninsula and the river bends right round it - here it is on a map.
The restaurant is down, beyond the village centre, right on the river bank and from there, after lunch, we turned left and walked round the river bank for about a mile or two until we came to the end of one of the other roads leading from the village, walked along that back to the village and then down the road to the river again to pick up the car. It was a lovely warm afternoon though just a little misty. It's pretty flat but there is a good raised flood wall all the way along the bank, to protect the village from floods, especially at high tide! The farmers are very careful to keep their drainage ditches deep and well maintained, as you can see here. And yes, those are our shadows you can see!
Here is a view straight across from the end of the road to Newnham and another a little further along,  looking back along the river towards Gloucester.The tide is in, as you can see!
 This hedge  is just beginning to  colour up,  though not quite yet in leaf. Most of the river bank is fallow or used for grazing (though we do hear occasional stories of the local Fire Service and SARA (the local volunteer Severn Area Rescue Association) having to join forces to rescue a wandering cow which has wandered into the mud on the river bank!)   But behind the floodbank, the fields are used for crops and the remains of the last corn harvest  can still be seen in the ground, which is obviously still a bit soggy. This view  looking back over the fields to Newnham  also shows the hills of the Forest of Dean behind the village.
Turning away from the river bank and walking back into the village, you can see  how wet the ground still is here. And there was a gathering of crows in the middle of the field - a Parliament, perhaps?
This is very much farming country and this farmhouse  looks so entirely natural in the landscape that it seems as though it could always have been there. The farm buildings, including this traditional equipment shed,  are still in use for their proper purpose and there were tractors busy around the farm as we walked past. And in the yard opposite the farmhouse was this herd  of beautiful red cows, with their new calves. This little one  in the cowshed was so new that her coat was still damp, she could only have been minutes old but she was on her feet and turned her head  a few minutes later to glower at me!
Next we detoured into the churchyard and were amazed at the condition and quality of the carving on some of the gravestones - some of them more than 200 years old. The lettering was not very legible but the carving  was still in remarkable condition. I'll post just a couple here  but could maybe do another sequence sometime if people would like to see more. As ever, click once to see and larger version and twice for even bigger. These gravestones amazed me - the subject matter and the quality was far higher than I would expect to see in a very remote and small country churchyard. Look at the fringe on the drapes and on the tassel and the cherub faces and wings. On this second one,  there is a tree, a grieving widow (I think!) leaning on a tomb topped with an urn and, on the right hand side, the tower of the parish church. And yes, I did turn round and look at it, it does appear to be the church tower outside which this grave stands! There are no tombstones  of this quality in our churchyard here where there the town is much bigger and where there were certainly people of similar or superior status to Arlingham. We found this group of between ten and twenty memorials like this amazing.
On then to the village crossroads where we turned back towards the river and passed the cottage I once owned. Isn't it pretty? I was very happy there Made me quite nostalgic!
By the time we got back down to the river, the sun was setting which allowed me to take this  picture   of the rushes in the ditch against the evening sky. And one last shot of Newnham, now a little misty  and with hundreds of birds (you'll probably need to enlarge this picture to see those!) winging their way back to roost for the night at Slimbridge, the Wetlands Reserve just along the river.
Driving home we had a lovely view of the setting sun which I was able to take full advantage of, as I wasn't driving and I already posted the best of the sunset pictures here on 14 February!
Hope you enjoyed a stroll along the river and round Arlingham.  Really must go more often!