Today I went walking in the Malverns with my dad. It was a rare day in that the weather forecast said it wasn't going to rain, so we thought we'd take the opportunity seeing as we've not been there for a while.

Indeed it did not rain, but there was also no sun, and virtually no view due to fog. The only thing I could really see from up on the hills was the town of Great Malvern, which is really close by. In fact, the outskirts of it spread up the side of the hills a bit, as can be seen in the image on this page.

Actually, this reminds me of a day out with my friend James back in May 2008 when we got really lost round there trying to find one of the public car parks, and ended up driving all around the circumfrence of the hills several times, admiring the grand hillside houses along the way. That was a good day, it was sunny. Anyway...

We walked across a few of the hills to Worcestershire Beacon, which is the highest out of the hills. Well, actually, I walked over each of the hills whilst my dad walked along a lower path (he's getting old) until the final climb up Worcestershire Beacon. No view up there at all. Actually, the view was worse than lower down. Still, it was nice to have the exercise and fresh air anyway.

After the walk, on the way back home we stopped in Upton-upon-Severn, where there is a lovely specialist map shop that my dad loves. This was my idea, because we did it last time, and it's a nice way to end the walk. I love old small towns like that, with the old street of independent quirky shops and old architecture. I didn't go in the map shop this time, because I went in a little second hand book shop. The old guy working in there (who was sat reading a book) was really strange looking. Hard to describe really. He was strange rotund man, and had a strange partial beard, a high voice (yes, even higher than mine I think), and wore a really old coat that was falling apart. Maybe business is slow...