We had lovely weather for the first day of the Mortimer Trail, from Ludlow through as far as Bircher Common. This gave us fantastic views from the high points such as the one in this picture not far from Ludlow.

At different points, you can see through 360 degrees, east over Ludlow and to the distinctive shape of Titterstone Clee (above), south and east to the Malverns, west into Wales, and north to the Shropshire hills. 

I hadn’t planned on blogging about A E Housman’s “blue remembered hills” – it’s a much-quoted line, and even gave its name to a whole TV play by Dennis Potter in 1979.  But I was drawn back to it by the combination of the slight bluish haze over the far distance, even on a clear day, and the memories that came back to me.  It’s easy enough to quote the whole poem, which is untitled:

Into my heart an air that kills

  From yon far country blows

What are those blue remembered hills,

  What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,

I see it shining plain,

The happy highways where I went

And cannot come again.

Housman called the full book of poems “A Shropshire Lad”, though he was not actually from the county.  He was born in Worcestershire, and commented that “I had a sentimental feeling for Shropshire because its hills were on our Western horizon,” even though he acknowledged he had never spent much time in Shropshire itself. 

It’s a nostalgic poem, looking back, in Housman’s case, to happier times in the past.  The views made me think back too.  I grew up in the Birmingham area, and went on day trips to Shropshire as a teenager.  Judith and I have walked in the hills around Church Stretton, and I explored the A5 corridor for my book on the London to Holyhead road, including one enjoyable trip with my mum, drawing on her knowledge of the county from visits to National Trust homes among other things.  More recently we’ve walked with David and Marion, our current companions, a couple of times in the Ludlow area.

So I’m glad to say that I was prompted to remember happy times in Shropshire while looking forward to more to come, starting of course with the remaining days of the Mortimer Trail. 

PS  I’m not going to attempt literary criticism, but here is an analysis if desired, https://interestingliterature.com/2016/10/a-short-analysis-of-a-e-housmans-into-my-heart-an-air-that-kills/.