A few days prior to a procedure to fix Mr C’s unexpected health condition that caused us to cancel our Madeira trip in October we had a last minute day trip to London.

We enjoyed a special meal deal in The Ivy looking towards Tower Bridge, our destination for the day. Tower Bridge with its glass walkways and views of London from above is well worth a visit. After our tour of the bridge we had hoped to visit the nearby Tower of London but in winter months it closes earlier, meaning we had run out of time. Instead we visited Foyles book shop where neither of us were tempted to buy anything.

A couple of days later I took Mr C on the 50 minute drive to the hospital (in appalling weather) where his procedure to remove some anomalous non-malignant cells was due to take place. General anaesthetic was administered but when the consultant prepared to do the procedure he found that the anomalous cells had vanished…

He was allowed home rather than having to stay in hospital overnight. Another 50 minute there and back again journey for me. We stopped on the way home to pick up something for our evening meal. A cup of tea was in order and we were tempted by naughty cakes.

I managed to persuade the reluctant adventurer to join me for a walk. First we visited my mum, who once again wasn’t quite herself so we didn’t stay as long as we would have liked to. Next we went to Shrewsbury to purchase some Sherry from Majestic Wines which led us nicely into lunch in the Cote Kitchen at Churncote Farm Shop.

After lunch Mr C drove the scenic route to Newport where we parked in Water Lane carpark next to the start of our walk. The first part of the walk led us to a part of the canal that I had no idea existed. It was delightful and teaming with wildlife. I will definitely go back there again. The walk then lead us alongside fields, through fields, through a churchyard, country pathways and a long stretch of country road ending with some paddocks which involved navigating several styles before arriving back in Newport and the start of the walk.

Overall I enjoyed the walk, although after a while I found walking along the country lane a bit hard going.

My milage differed from the 4.75 miles mentioned on the walk page. By the time we had finished the walk my FitBit registered that I had walked around 6.5 miles. We did go a bit off track on one part of the walk (map reader failed to read instructions) leading us to retrace our steps but the small detour didn’t account for so much difference in mileage.

We headed off to a local garden centre with lunch in mind. We enjoyed browsing around the garden centre but the lunch options did not tempt us. After paying our respects to Her Majesty we drove to Wightwick Manor only to find that the car park was closed because it was full.

We eventually found lunch in a garden centre at Gailey. I thought I would choose a healthy sandwich option until I saw the calorie content was more than I would consume for an evening meal. Instead I opted for a piece of ‘naughty cake’ which was half the calories of the sandwiches. When Mr C’s sandwich arrived I understood why, the bread was doorstep sized.

Next we visited Shugborough allowing me to complete my target for day 3 of my June walking challenge. On arrival we walked up to Hadrian’s arch, a place the Mr C had not been before. It was rather blustery on top and as we turned to descend the incline we noticed that we had set a trend and several other people were now ascending the incline.

Back at lower levels we visited the walled garden before walking to the house so that we could see the formal gardens. We will be back to explore some of our other favourite features of the estate when we have more time.

Later we dined out with family; all dressed in Red, White and Blue in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.