17/07/25 - Saltwells to The Bull and Bladder, Home of the Bathams

Blessing of your heart: You brew good ale

The Ramblers Meetup Invitation had me at "and then we will visit the Bathams Brewery Tap".

I failed to notice distance, walk type, where we would be going or indeed, who I would be going with.

Let's answer the questions in turn....

Distance - 5 Miles

Walk Type - Planned as linear, with the bus for the last 1.5 miles back to Cradley Heath Station. I was too tight to pay the £3, having more time at my disposal than funds.

Where We are Going - a walk through Saltwells Country Park - visiting the quarry and a reservoir. Then along the Dudley 2 Canal, including the nine locks. Walk leader then "abandons" his flock and says "time for the pub, I will you show you the bus stop, but I plan to stop for a session. You are welcome to join me or make your own way back.

Who I would be walking with - Its the Ramblers. You are never sure who will turn up. But I probably didnt expect a gentleman in Chelsea boots who then commented on the Meetup Page post walk that he "thought the lady who patted me on the train was lovely, but they were all very nice". I have no idea what he assumed this type of group would be. Once again, I was the youngest - but only by two years. Reminiscing about the hot summer of '76 always provides the necessary data to make deductions.

Photos:

Doulton's Quarry - Zoom in to the rock-face for a giant dragonfly

Nine Locks down to Delph Road

The walk leader was correct to make it an "every person for themselves". He had done his work and only gone wrong twice. Some stayed for one. Some drank cider, coke or Stella. Most had a Bathams. I stopped for three and left the hardcore for their afternoon session. Complicated rounds were starting to form and I didn't want to leave in a pensioner's debt.

Always keen to find something new - I noticed that the pub used to be a lodge for the Buffs. See the RAOB glass above the door.

The beer, as good as always.

RAOB

Bathams in the Garden

The horrified bar man recovering from 15 ramblers, paying separately. 

The classic frontage through rush hour traffic

Walk Details

Distance - 5 Miles

Geocaches - 5

16/07/25 - History Today at Astley Church

Medieval Effigies, A Monastery, A Castle and a Forge

A Rambler's route, walked solo. Who would have thought such a quiet part of Worcestershire would have so much history.

Starting at St Peter's Astley Church, I am reminded I really need to read "How to Read a Church" by Richard Taylor. To be fair, asking ChatGPT to give a summary is a start - especially when it asks if I would like it tailored for where I am visiting. I could have spent a good hour looking for the clues it suggested were there.

St Peters, Astley

St Peter’s Church in Astley, Worcestershire, is a Norman-founded building with well-preserved Romanesque features and later Gothic additions. Highlights include a 14th-century font, Jacobean pulpit, and the 15th-century Blount Chapel, which houses striking polychrome effigies of the Blount family. The church reflects nearly 900 years of religious and artistic heritage.

The path down to New Bridge is one of my favourites. Carved through sandstone, presumably through hundreds of years of footprints, it takes the rambler to New Bridge and Glasshampton Monastery. The monastery a former Georgian Country manor house, ruined by fire and repaired by C20th Anglican Franciscans.

Into the Woods

To the Monastery

The monks (and other hired hands) are hard at work on the harvest, gathering potatoes and spring onions. Previously well explored paths do bring me to the notice board for Oliver's Mound. Information boards always providing inspiration for future walks - the masonry from Shrawley Castle repurposed at Holt.

Trees stopping the views to the river but the high ground can be traced

Picnic at Dick Brook, at the marker stone for a forge. Just a handful of bricks remain, although if I looked hard enough, I should have found signs of canalisation of the brook.

Forge

The walk kind of goes wrong as I head back to Astley. Wheat fields are being harvested, so re-routing required least death from combine harvester is attained. The less said about the wooded descent to the Dunley Road the better. Unless you know where I can send the bill for the bad cagging on my Rohan Bags. The view to Abberley Quarry as it opens up more or less makes it all worthwhile.

Harvest time in Worcestershire

Back at the "Doors Open" church to look at the Medieval Effigies to the Blount Family.

Next time, I will be better prepared with a ChatGPT inspired "I Spy" list.

Love the little dogs at heel

Walk Details

Distance - 8 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration

14/07/25 - Slow Way/Rail Trail - Hagley to Stourbridge

Happy Black Country Day

The Wyre Forest Rail Trail came to an abrupt end at Hagley. Yet there are plenty of Black Country stations to explore of the same line - with rail trail routes becoming available once you enter Warwickshire. Slow Ways coming up with an alternative resource to inspire a short route from Hagley to Stourbridge.

Seems fitting that I reach the South Western edge of the Black Country on the day that flags with red and black chains are all over social media pronouncing "Happy Black Country Day!"

A simple walk - the Monarch's Way providing some countryside and up and over Wychbury Hill. Will the obelisk still have the graffiti pronouncing "Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?"

“Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?” is a mysterious graffiti phrase linked to the 1943 discovery of a woman’s skeleton hidden inside a wych elm tree in Hagley Wood, near Stourbridge. The body was never identified, but the name “Bella” emerged after the graffiti appeared in nearby Birmingham in 1944, sparking decades of speculation. Theories range from espionage—suggesting she was a Nazi spy—to occult murder or a local crime. No one has ever claimed responsibility for the graffiti, which has reappeared intermittently over the years, keeping the unsolved case alive in British folklore and true crime lore.

Climbing Wychbury Hill on the Monarch's Way

The Obelisk

The Graffitti

Black Country Views

Stourbridge is entered from the south, passing the Seven Stars too early.

But on the final day of the second 2025 heatwave, who could resist cask Jaipur at £2.45 in an Air-conditioned 'Spoons?  Not me.

Long may the month-long (into its third month) promotion live!

15th Jaipur, 1st branded glass.

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Geocaches - 3

Walk Inspiration - Slow Ways

Previous Slows Ways - Birmingham to Blackheath, Blackheath to Halesowen, Halesowen to Stourbridge, Stourbridge to Kinver, Kinver to Highley, Highley to Bridgnorth, Bridgnorth to Much Wenlock

Previous Stage on the Wyre Valley Line - Worcester to Droitwich, Droitwich to Hartlebury, Hartlebury to Kidderminster, Kidderminster to Hagley

08/07/25 - Titterstone Clee Hill

Radar Love

It's been a long time since I last climbed either of the Clee Hills. A route on Titterstone in The Great Outdoors Magazine (via the Library's Pressreader Service) caught my eye.

The Clee Hills, in south Shropshire, are a dramatic pair of upland peaks—Brown Clee (the county’s highest point) and Titterstone Clee—offering panoramic views across Wales, the Midlands, and beyond. Rich in geology and industrial heritage, they were once heavily quarried for dhustone and mined for coal and iron, leaving behind relics like tramways and hillforts.

I always get Brown and Titterstone mixed up. For future reference, Titterstone is the one with the "golf ball" radar station on the top.

Today's Quarry - from Riddings Gate mini car park

Common land to begin the walk, with paths on the ground having little resemblance to the OS Maps and high ferns making going sketchy, but I eventually arrive at Hill Houses. Surprisingly for such a small place - Hamlet would be too grand a title - there is a "Big Blue Cup of Joy" marked on the map.

Of course it is closed and it has taken an awful lot of research to work out what it was called. The Gate Hangs Well and detailed as being in Farlow. I could not even identify a pub-looking building, so it is likely to have been knocked down and rebuilt as a private house. Only a couple of references online - CAMRA and the usual local newspaper story of villagers campaigning to save their local.

The closest I get to a pub today.

Road walking to Cleeton St Mary. It's the type of place where every car driver waves at you. A school and church the notable buildings.

Cleeton St Mary

It's then onto the main prize - a climb of Titterstone on the Shropshire Way, followed a descent over Magpie Hill, passing the amusingly named Random Cottage.

A beautiful day for it and a fine place for lunch.

The "Golf Ball"

360 Degree Views

Walk Details

Distance - 8.75 Miles

Walk Inspiration - TGO Magazine 

Geocaches - 2