Jane’s Walk 2024 – Day 5

Back to Upton and we walk out of this pretty small town on the west side of the river. It is an incredibly beautiful morning with not a cloud in the sky or any wind. We are glad we have started early as it will be very hot later.

We walk along the river, which is wider and slower moving on this stretch. We are beside vast flood plains, which are usually flooded in the winter, as are many of the houses nearby! This particular area is a conservation zone, noted for its wild flowers in spring and not cut until late July. We make good progress as the path is open and the gates and stiles in good condition.

We arrive in the area where the sand and gravel that we watched being quarried and loaded onto boats yesterday are separated and distributed to different destinations. We watch while one of the loaded barges arrive and the gravel sand mixture is unloaded by a large crane into a hopper and then moved to the top of the hill. A very quick and professional process.

A couple of large fields have cows and calves in them and we have to give them a wide birth, but all is well.

We soon see the tower of Tewksbury Abbey in the distance and arrive at the bridge which we cross and walk to the Abbey to have some lunch and have a look around this beautiful and peaceful abbey before returning home for our day off tomorrow and to enjoy the company of all our children and grandchildren who are meeting up this weekend. All 21 of us!