In 1347 the plague followed the Rhone River valley and other important water routes to circulate through France. From there, it spread to northern Germany, the Low Countries (modern Belgium and Holland), then to Scandinavia. As the epidemic reached England in the summer of 1348, it picked up strength. Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, London, and other port towns were struck first. The disease moved inland, skipping from one village to the next and making its way north to Scotland. Livestock died by the thousands in the fields, their rotting and revolting carcasses untouched by birds of prey. Fields and pastures went untended and unharvested. A shortage of workers made the economy falter, but those left alive could demand higher wages. Thus, the economy of England, and the rest of Europe, was permanently disrupted and transformed by the Black Death.