Photo from http://www.mjausson.com
I went out to Worcester today, to give a talk, and the train passed the site of the old Adlestrop station, made famous by Edward Thomas’s beautiful poem. The poem’s always been a favourite of mine, Jane and I had a poster of it up in the first flat we had together, but I’d never been to the place itself.
You can see why Thomas was moved to poetry – the view from the railway line between Oxford and Evesham, running along the Evenlode Valley, is absolutely spectacular. So much so, in fact, that when faulty line-side equipment kept us waiting at a signal for 35 minutes, I was almost pleased.