Malvern Hills

I have been living in England for quite some time now so my friends and I felt the need to leave campus and travel around the area to visit pretty places before the trees lose leaves completely and the weather turns out to be rainy on a daily basis.

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One of us saw pictures on the internet of a nice hike and we decided to retrieve more information about it, so we went to the tourist information point here in the city center and asked some questions. The lady was very nice, she gave us a free map of the area, which is called Malvern, and she also told us which bus reaches the town, I think that there are actually more options, but depending on which bus you take it takes more or less time. So we were basically ready, we knew which means of transport we could have taken, we knew how long the drive would have been, we just did not know how much the bus ticket was and if we could pay by credit or debit card as well.

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Last Sunday, to be honest yesterday, we decided to go so we went to catch the bus and we found out that:

• there is no student discount (dang it! );
• each ride is four pounds;
• the ticket can be purchased on a mobile app;
• if bought on board only cash is accepted.

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The bus ride took about forty minutes and when we got there we found out that the city was even smaller than it looked on the maps, but it did not matter because we were there for the hills and the hike. We found a tourist information point and asked for guidance. The lady was as nice as the one in Worcester and she told us that we could pretty much walk as much as we wanted to, the paths are really easy to follow and so, according to her, it is really hard to even just get lost.

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So we started our hike from St. Ann’s Well and then we reached the highest peak, only four hundred and twenty-five meters of altitude, called Worcestershire Beacon. On our way to the Beacon, I started to sweat, so I took off my hoodie but I eventually had to put it on again because the wind started to blow. We spotted a bench on the edge of the hill and from there the view was just amazing, so we took a bunch of pictures there and then a few minutes later we were at the top. The wind was really strong and it was really hard not to fly away, lol. My friends and I took a dumb picture of us pretending to have a hard time staying with feet on the ground (much wind, get it? ), which describes itself:

Then we went further. I really liked being there because we all felt like if we were free. The land was so green, the leaves on the floor were really colorful and the view was breathtaking. It was very quiet, it was not too hot or too cold. At about one o’clock we reached the southern part of the first bit and we decided to stop and eat something. We had all our packed lunches, from pizza to sandwiches and even potatoes and bread with peanut butter.

We used the toilet as well and then we started to hike again (I will save details on how clean the toilets were because I do not anyone to feel bad or disgusted while reading my blog). As we tried to reach the British camp, it started to be very foggy and, at some point, it was so windy that I could barely see. Apparently, the Beacon is the highest point of the entire hike but I felt like if I was higher here, it is probably the fog's fault, and we also saw some animals, like bulls and sheep I guess, just laying on the grass (maybe eating it as well).

At some point we thought it was going to be a waste of time to just go further if we were not going to see anything because of the fog, I mean from the pictures we have seen it would have been really nice and there was even a lake but the weather decided not to be our friend (at least it did not rain because that would have sucked), so we turned and started to walk back, but on a different path. This was muddier but there was less wind because it was kind of like in the middle of a forest. Then we reached the main road and just kept going straight. At some point, we had the tourist information point in front of us and there we turned right and stopped at Costa Café so that we could be in the warmth for a little while and sip some coffee or tea.

I started going through my pictures because I could not wait until I got home, and I really like them. It might be rainier here in the UK rather than in other countries but I guess the good side of it is that the grass is always very green and beautiful. When you take a picture of the English countryside then you do not have to add saturation because it is literally so nice already. Anyways, if I had to give an overall mark on a scale from one to ten I would definitely give it at least an eight. It is not so hard so it is accessible also to people who are not used to hiking and is not far away from Worcester, it literally takes eleven minutes by train and half an hour by bus, and if you take the train on a super off-peak then you even pay less than the bus.

After the hike I literally went straight to take a shower and then had dinner because I was really tired, I was not sore but definitely exhausted.

- Cristian

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