Squelching in the mud! Late Blip!

We took the three older ones for a walk in Sutton Park after lunch. Sticking to the northern extremities and entering by one of the many small gates which are dotted around the 2,400 acre perimeter.
We parked the car in a side road on the opposite side of one of the main traffic routes which circumnavigate the boundary.
They loved it.
Squelching through the mud in their wellies, finding sticks, looking for “treasures” (they each had a small clear plastic bag to drop them into) and wading through small channel of water which ran into one of the many pools. This particular one is probably the smallest of all the ones in the park.
A goods railway line traverses the area entering soon after Sutton Coldfield and leaving in the direction of Walsall.
In some parts it is on a bank, in others in cuttings. Where it is on a bank (all safely fenced along the length) the park paths will go underneath it via a tunnel. These are great places for the kids to shout and squeal, as the path goes through under the rounded arched walls and roof, just the width of the railway track.
It echoes and bounces sound off the brick.
As we had just gone through one a train was heard to approach so they delightedly shouted and waved at it as it thundered over the track above the archway. A big locomotive with its seemingly endless goods containers passing along.
At the small pool there was a heron fishing. Sammy and I watched as he lazily flew off on his large outstretched wings. Gliding off into the distance.,
I had to pull Toby out of a mud patch at one place as his wellie boot got stuck! Libby filled her small bag with bits of bark, and some acorn cups, with a small pebble too.,
The smell of damp decaying leaves, lichen on twigs, moss covering tree roots and the many different coloured stones and pebbles made it such a treat.
They all want to do it again when they come back once more, as they go home tomorrow for about 10 days before returning for another week.
It is going to seem very quiet.
I will miss them all. Even though I will value the rest and recuperation!