At the moment I'm trying to see as much as possible of the area in and around B'ham. But unfortunately, most attractions are closed on a monday, therefore I decided to have a nice relaxed day at Sutton Park (claims to be the "largest urban park in Europe").

I had only been there once before with Sue and two of her grandchildren, but last time we spent most of the time on one of the playgrounds, so I hadn't really seen much of the park.

But before I went to the park, I bought some provisions at Aldi in Sutton - in my opinion, one should always take a smoothie and an Aldi-salad or wrap with him/her - it helps if one is lost in the jungle...

I had no idea how to get to the park without the bus (I had lost my bus pass on the way to Sutton (but I've just phoned the garage; I can get it back tomorrow, so no need to be hopping mad, mum (I love this expression^^))), so I employed my (free) mobile Google Earth (oh yes, a blessing of the new technologies) to find the way - it wasn't far, maybe 10min by foot - and the journey planner had proposed to take the bus...

So as soon as it looked like a part of the park, I left the pavement and took the path of the turtle (and therefore no path at all) through the wilderness - until I was stopped by some kind of leisure centre with lots of people (sports day) around - which I didn't like, so I followed a small path and found a gate at the end of it, that looked very closed, but luckily it wasn't.

And now I finally stood in the woods of Sutton Park and our story can begin......

I walked along a street......

And along a asphaltic walking trail (suitable for wheelchair users and 100% un-natural)......

And then my feet hurt from all the hard ground and I decided to follow a little deer pass through the woods......

I saw hundreds of squirrels, one of the latter didn't run away at all, not even when I passed it about a metre away from it......

And thousands of birds...

And then I became hungry, so I left the woods to find a nice little, desolated park bench, where I enjoyed my Aldi-Mexican-Sausage-Salad and a Sparkling-Water-With-Traces-Of-Lemon-And-Lime-100%Natural-Lots-Of-Added-Stuff - it was great...

Then I continued my adventure by going back into the forest where I saw something fox-ish, maybe lynx-ish, that stared at me - until a stupid raven started to warn him/her/it.

After lots of walking and taking many many pictures I arrived at a little stream, that looked so inviting, that I took of my shoes and walked a little bit in the wonderful(ly) cool water.

Afterwards I sat down on a bench nearby and continued reading my book. The sun was shining warmly and, as I thought, mercifully (pathetic fallacy!), until I saw the sunburn :-).

Does anybody know a good quick way to cure actinodermatitis (posh word for sunburn^^)???

And then I tried to find my way back to where I came from - luckily I have a very good sense of orientation (although nobody ever believes me!).

Ok, and that's the story of today...

Tomorrow I will do the Tolkien trail (my hostmum's grandfather went to school with Tolkien!!!) and on Wednesday I'll go to Stratford again - a final time.

Here you can find more infos on Sutton Park.

Oh, and here you can get a very special book^^

Sabine

ps Dear parents, don't even start to aspire that from now on I will go on walking trips voluntarily - NEVER!

pps The title of this blog entry is "Strange Experience" because I think it is strange that

1. I walk voluntarily (I mean longer than 10min, silly).

2. I got a sunburn.

3. Merlin is so lethargic today.

Posted June 9, 2008 12:05:55 PM