[BobClay]

Summer or no summer I drove up to the Malvern Hills yesterday (Sunday Sept 10th) for a break. Stopped off at Tewkesbury on the way to walk around the battle field of 1471. A decisive battle was fought there near the end of the Wars of the Roses which secured the throne for Edward IV. Some parts of the battlefield are built on, but there's a good path around the site, which runs through 'bloody meadow.'
Here apparently the Lancastrian Army was slaughtered. Medieval battles were a close in bloody affair and once one army buckled little or no quarter was given.
Edward had a good run for ten years or so, then died unexpectedly, which left the field open for his younger brother, Richard to move in and become Richard III .. and we all know how that ended up.

Then I walked up the Worcestershire Beacon, the highest point on the Malverns with a view to die for. Today I did the Herefordshire Beacon, at the other end of the ridge. An ancient fort adorns it call 'The British Camp' which legend has it stood fast against the Roman invasion.

Tomorrow I'm going to walk the ridge line. You can see the Bristol Channel, the Welsh Mountains and the Shropshire plain from these hills. That's enough history here for anyone to chew on.

So far the weather has been fair to good, few heavy showers. Nothing compared the bad weather some poor folks are getting the world over.