On an extremely hot day, we had a quiet ramble from The Stag at Offchurch based on a 41 Club Millennium Way walk.

Any walking to the East of Knowle is almost bound to conflict with the HS2 development which has disrupted quite a few footpaths. This was no exception and after some quiet countryside we were soon in the thick of it. However, the bright side is that the budding civil engineers in the group get to pontificate on the progress and the engineering.

It is not only HS2 that blights rights of way. We used an Unclassified County Road where off-roading vehicles had their fun – but they haven’t been back to make good the track they had churned up, at one point making it an almost impassable mud soup. [Update: reported to Warwickshire CC and they are aware and are “working to resolve this”.]

Anyway, enough of the grumps.

We soon got away from the mess, admired summer crops and passed over the Long Itchington to Offchurch trail which has relatively recently opened.

Just as we returned to Offchurch, we heard the distinctive sound of a Lancaster which overflew us. Camera grabbed just in time!

We then returned to the Stag and enjoyed a cooling drink and a chat before returning home. Although it was extremely hot, we all took plenty to drink, wore hats and sun cream and nobody was bothered by the weather, even though the cooling breeze was quite warm itself.