30/07/26 - Lammas in Halesowen

Early Harvest

I might be two days early for Lammas - but tell that to the strange weather. All the circumstances for a pilgrimage walk.  The farmers are actually harvesting today - and I find an oak to eat my ham sandwich under. I neither have a loaf nor companions to complete the ritual as directed. 

August brings Lughnasadh (or Lammas), the ancient Celtic festival of the first harvest, celebrated on 1 August. Lammas, from the Old English hlaf-mæsse ("loaf mass"), marks the baking of bread from the new grain and giving thanks for the harvest. This is the time for bread baked from new grain, for gathering berries on hedgerow walks, for songs of John Barleycorn, the spirit of corn who must die so we might live.

Pilgrimage at Lughnasadh is earthy and practical, when you can bring a loaf, break it with your companions beneath an oak, and share it together.

Harvest Special

I'm in Halesowen - a new Adventure Lab Cache, a local walk in Country Walking Magazine and a lunchtime visit to CAMRA's Cider Pub of the Year (Stourbridge and Halesowen Branch).

It's a walk I know reasonably well but there's always something new to discover.

The remains of Halesowen Abbey - built 1218

A new waymarked walking trail

I knew that Leasowes Park was a Dudley Geosite but the new trail, with fresh waymarker signs is a bit of a mystery. A Google search and the only reference is an upcoming Ramblers Walk that follows a route from Halesowen to Waseley Hill Visitor Centre. Considering the effort they have gone to on plotting the walk on the ground, they could do with a little more advertising on the route it takes. And saying it is Geotrail 1 suggests more Geotrails are coming. I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Perhaps the most interesting artefacts on this walk are finding the remains of the Halesowen Branch line. 

Old Hill to Longbridge

The map shows the course of the route from Old Hill to Longbridge, but offers no clues to the engineering feats involved in its construction. Fallen trees forced me into the woodland, where the surviving brick piers can still be found. These once supported a lattice ironwork viaduct that rose 100 feet above the valley floor and stretched for 700 feet. Built in 1883, it lasted just over 80 years before being dismantled in 1965. All that effort, but would it have passed today's health and safety tests? It looks rather delicate!

Reclaimed by nature

10 mph speed limit. Unsure if it ran when windy

The route - unusually for this summer, completed in rain - is back to town via Leasowes Park and the disused number 2 canal.

Post walk refreshment has to be Roberto's Bar. For daytime drinkers, this means arriving on a Thursday/Friday or Saturday - when it opens at midday. Come on a Sunday and it opens at 2pm, but selling the most extraordinary looking Bloody Mary's - made in a vat and sold until gone.

You know what day it is! Don't miss out! I'm away next Sunday so you'll have to get your fix today! Cheers! pic.twitter.com/pTiaTVqXcA

— Roberto's Bar - Halesowen (@RobertosBarHale) July 26, 2026

No "Breakfast of Champions" on this Thursday afternoon but the electronic menu does demand some attention. Two pages of ciders were expected. About a dozen different meads wasn't. But there was only one choice for me. Not often I see the laughing abbot on draught.

Straffe Hendrick Quad chaser also available

Walk Details

Distance - 8 miles

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, April 2026, Walk 12

Geocaches - 10

Previous Celtic Pilgrimages - Imbloc, Spring Equinox, Beltane, Summer Solstice

27/06/26 - Perry Barr, Witton and Aston - a Birmingham AZ City Walk

Spaghetti, Stadiums and Dead Centres

If you take nothing else from this blog, take this. Do not stop in Perry Barr Square, waiting to get a signal on your GPS. You will be left wondering why extras from The Walking Dead need spare change.

This walk from the AZ Series is primarily concerned with stadiums. The Alexander Stadium was re-developed for the Commonwealth Games. The Greyhound Stadium closed in 2025 and has already been demolished. Villa Park sadly remains. (A joke from a Baggie, Vile fans).

First they came for the pubs, then the greyhounds

Commonwealth Games Legacy

1709 Perry Bridge - with tags

The Birmingham Canal is picked up, which could take us all the way and under Spaghetti Junction. Yet we make a worthy diversion into Witton Cemetery, one of the largest in the country. A stop for lunch on a handy bench by the main chapel of worship. A grave catches my eye - Big Lee was a young man when he died. A quick Google - stabbed in the neck at a house party after calling an acquaintance a paedo. Just one of the thousands of stories contained in this huge final resting place.

Looking across the M6 into the City

Back to the canal for a unique perspective of Spaghetti Junction from underneath. 18 different routes across five levels, with 559 columns and 13,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel.

How it looks below

Up to civilisation on the Lichfield Road to walk on roads through Aston and Witton.

Watkins, ?, Martinez

Back at Perry Barr to avoid the zombies and head into a shopping estate 'spoons. What it lacks in looks it makes up for with £2.45 pints of quality cask.

Just don't sit outside.

Walk Details

Distance - 7.75 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - AZ City Walks, Walk 13

Previous Birmingham AZ Walks - Walk 1 & 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5, Walk 6, Walk 7, Walk 8, Walk 9, Walk 10, Walk 11, Walk 12

26/07/26 - The Fox and Hounds, Lulsley

Hanging On

Mrs M demands a Sunday lunch, I tell her to find the pub and I will plot a route to work up an appetite.

The Fox and Hounds in Lulsley comes up with great reviews. I know the pub, just off the Worcestershire Way, but in the back of my mind, I remember reading it was up for sale. True enough, a Worcester News article from 2025 detailing how there cannot be a viable business and planning permission has been granted to turn it into flats and new houses.

Late Victorian pub, replacing the same named one half a mile up the road

I'm unsure what has happened since a failed auction, but the pub is still operating. It's positioned just off the Worcestershire Way and above the River Teme. A walk is easy created, adapting a much shorter walk through Alfrick to really earn a roast.

A climb to Rounds Hill for the Worcestershire Way and a drop down on lanes into Alfrick. Just a church here - warning what awaits Lulsley unless they start using the amenities available.  Folly's Road leads us to the River Teme, where the map offers more than reality delivers. Cold Place is actually Coles Place and Lulsley Court - in old text on the map - looks nothing more unusual than an old farm. Offering a side-line in camping weddings. A teepee and a bell tent city thankfully had the weather on their side.

An unusual view of the Malverns from Camp Hill

Alfirck Church

The River Teme, after Lulsley Court

We meet an elderly gentleman dog walker on the hills. He tells us about Tom the landlord and how he's saving £36K per year by getting his parents to cook the roasts. He says for us to say hello to Tom. 

Tom has no idea who the mystery walker was. To be fair, Tom is not great with dog breeds. Two other drinkers are in the bar and all three ponder who owns the flat coat retriever. Photos from parish magazines are presented but no joy in identification.

At least this provided some entertainment in the main bar. In the dining room, a family of 3 turned up and there were two more diners in the bar by the time we left. Seven covers and two drinkers for a Sunday Lunch..... which was as excellent, as it was cabbage heavy.

My guidebook tells me what we would have won in 1995 when it was published. The "Hungry Hounds Mixed Grill" points to a disappearing age. But some things remain unchanged.... under drinks, it says Worthington or Bass Real Ale.

Permanently available

A check of the National Bass Inventory, where it is not registered. A tweet to Sir Quinno required. Maybe the legion of Bass fans can make pilgrimages and ensure that another one doesn't bite the dust.

Walk Details

Distance - 6.5 miles 

Walk Inspiration - Short Walks from Worcestershire Pubs, Walk 5

Geocaches - 0

24/07/26 - The London Spiral Summary

Around and around in circles for 5 years

So what's a man to do when he has walked the Capital Ring, the London Loop and the London Country Way? Each of these Long Distance Paths are circular, in ever more distant circles around the Capital. 

How about a Spiral walk that starts at Kings Cross and gets further and further out till you are dumped at Gravesend?

There are two sources available -  Inspiral London and The London Spiral Walk. As far as I can tell, they follow the same route. Inspiral London appears to be the originator, has the better mapping and has a mission statement, that is was only partly successful in achieving.

Inspiral London is a unique artist-led metropolitan trail, a collective on the ground mapping that creates a new walk trail winding in and out of London. This anti-clockwise spiral walk begins at Kings Cross, unwinding six times to finally end at Gravesend, only to begin again. The route crosses the River Thames at ten strategic locations, using bridges, foot tunnels, a cable car and ferries. At over 300-miles of pathway, the trail is divided into 36 segments all easily accessible by public transport, allowing the public – walkers, urban explorers, excursionists, citizens – to experience the city and its environs as one vast art space in which to re-imagine their city.

It's the art-space element that lost me - some of the associated blogs, did indeed identify public artworks - especially in the early stages. I am sure this was largely forgotten by the times we reached the commuter boroughs and the agricultural walks on the outer loop.

It is a fine piece of psycho-geography. Putting my journey in the hands of others, following a random and on-the-ground unmarked trail and not knowing what (if anything) I would find.

The Highlights

My appreciation and knowledge of London (especially its public transport!) has increased. All the areas you would want to explore—and some you probably wouldn't—are covered. The treasures are endless, and the stories on every street are myriad.

Of course, the pubs - 55 of them. I have been able to tick off Good Beer Guide Pubs in some of the more unloved areas of Greater London. And there have been some absolute classics, either revisited or discovered. As a big fan of the Deserter Podcast, it was almost a pilgrimage to visit the Shirker's Rest in New Cross. I exported Slabs crisps to Worcestershire. Shout outs to the Faltering Fullback (Arsenal), the Mayflower (Bermondsey), The Wanstead Tap, Cricketers (Richmond) and the Park Tavern (Eltham).

I am unsure whether I would have crossed the Thames by cable car if it wasn't for the route. Surreal, especially as I was completing an Adventure Lab Cache, airborne. I've lost track of the number of crossings but I think bridge, underpass, cable car and boat covers all the manners of the crossings.

The Lowlights

The later stages, especially the North and West, were an endless procession of housing estates. A decision point loomed at Hayes and Harlington (stage 20), where I said I would reach the river for the final crossing at Hampton and make a decision. Planning showed the remainder could be done easily with a couple of overnight stays. In true style, those four walks were poor, excellent, excellent, poor.

Arriving in Penge, a local asked me what I was doing. When I told him I had walked from Wimbledon he said "what the bloody hell have you done that for?" I was at a loss on how to reply.

The finale was disappointment. Then again, I knew the terrain of entering Gravesend from the London Country Way. There is no easy way of stating this. It's not pretty. It's not for walkers.

The Stages

Stage 01 - Kings Cross to Marylebone
Stage 02 - Marylebone to Hoxton
Stage 03 - Hoxton to Archway

Stage 04 - Archway to Kensington
Stage 05 - Kensington to Canada Water
Stage 06 - Canada Water to Turnpike Lane
Stage 07 - Turnpike Lane to Shepherd's Bush
Stage 08 - Shepherd's Bush to Clapham Common
Stage 09 - Clapham Common to Lewisham
Stage 10 - Lewisham to Wanstead
Stage 11 - Wanstead to Arnos Grove
Stage 12 - Arnos Grove to Wembley
Stage 13 - Wembley to Kew Gardens
Stage 14 - Key Gardens to Wimbledon
Stage 15 - Wimbledon to Penge
Stage 16 - Penge to Woolwich
Stage 17 - Woolwich to Roding Valley
Stage 18 - Roding Valley to Hadley Wood
Stage 19 - Hadley Wood to Carpender's Park
Stage 20 - Carpender's Park to Hayes
Stage 21 - Hayes to Hampton Court
Stage 22 - Hampton Court to Epsom
Stage 23 - Epsom to Kenley
Stage 24 - Kenley to Knockholt
Stage 25 - Knockholt to Farningham Road
Stage 26 - Farningham Road to Gravesend

Walk Summary

Distance - 275 Miles

Geocaches - 124 and many Adventure Lab Caches 

Pubs - 55