Abberley Hill

It is a gloriously sunny day today. We've been busy in the garden all weekend, mowing, weeding, clipping the hedge. We've been busy in the house too, sorting out stuff ready for our visitors next week.

Nick's brother Phil is coming, and bringing his eldest daughter, Milly. I haven't managed to see Milly since ... erm... I was pregnant with my youngest two (who are, incidentally, now six years old). Also coming are two nephews from Canada - Devon and Cory - whom I haven't seen for even longer. Now in their 20s, they are having their first real adventure holiday abroad. They have been backpacking round Europe for the past few weeks. I've been following their progress on Facebook.
Anyway, we finally got rid of all the faded, sun-brittled, toddler toys that have been littering the back garden for the past five years. We've taken apart the tiny trampoline which had no bounce left in it. We've sorted out a whole load of clothes to pass on to friends with smaller children, and 'recycled' the very tired looking too-small pyjamas.
I've took a very cathartic trip to the dump with a car load full of rubbish. Donny and Saskia came with me. On the way back we stopped to walk the dog up Abberley Hill. This is quite close to where we live, but not a hill I can ever remember climbing before. I see it almost daily as I drive along the road, but today we decided to stop and explore.
The hill is covered in forest, with an old quarry on the one side. We followed a path nearly to the top. It was beautiful, full of the buzzing sounds of May. The trees were so close together they made tunnels over the path. We walked for over an hour, down past the quarry and out onto a road.
I had no idea where we had ended up, so I asked a passing cyclist. It turned out that we were a good 2 or 3 miles from where we had left the red car. I gave Nick a call and he came to our rescue, picking us up in the other car and driving us back to pick up the red car.