28/06/15 - Plume of Feathers

Distance - 7.5 Miles
Geocaches - 5
Walk Inspiration - Adventurous Pub Walks in Worcestershire

Adventurous Pub Walks in Worcestershire is my sort of book. It has Adventure. It has Walks. It has Pubs. There are 20 routes within and I walked 7 of them in a flurry of activity between 2006 and 2008. Since then, it has languished on my bookshelf, waiting to be rediscovered.

On a miserable June Sunday, I knock off walk 1 - from the Plume of Feathers, Welland.  This is one of those old country pubs that have been unchanged for years.  The tables outside looked like they haven't been cleaned for years.  Still, faced with nouveau watering holes, I wouldn't change a thing.

Straight out into the countryside on Castlemorton Common.  Bleak on the best of days, the weather is not helping at all.

Destination - The Hills Behind

Pick up the Worcestershire Way Link Path.  A single cache breaks the monotony of a dull footpath that winds its way through common land and farm land.  The stiff climb up Tinker's Hill and the British Camp reservoir provide some welcome views.

Foothills of Tinker's Hill

British Camp Reservoir

Stuart Maconie waxed lyrically about the little tea hut in British Camp Reservoir car park in his book "Adventures on the High Teas - In search of Middle England".  They do wonderful ice cream.

It's not an ice cream kind of day, so I continue and head up the side of Herefordshire Beacon.  Having "conquered" this peak on my most recent visit to the Malverns, I leave the prescribed route in search of footpaths new.

Grim skyline to the Eastnor

British Camp and the Herefordshire Beacon

With the height gained, its superb walking over Millennium, Hangman's and Swinyard Hills.  A lot of noise is coming from Eastnor Castle.  I see the adverts later on the way home - Bjorn Again were the headline act of a weekend festival.

Another hillfort on Midsummers Hill where I get a little confused with the paths that the guidebook want me to take.  Decide to make my own decision and re-visit the Gullet - a flooded Quarry.

A stiff descent on an overgrown path leads me to an abandoned rucksack in the undergrowth.  I wonder if someone is in trouble.  Only if its possible to die of embarrassment, as the owner turns out to be a young solo female rambler who has been caught short and is stooped in the bushes.

I promise her that I am averting my eyes, in fear that she will take a tumble if she gets herself tangled up in her craghoppers kiwi walking trousers that are keeping her ankles warm.

She does not catch me up when I arrive at the Gullet to take a few photos.

After the Gusset - The Gullet

The route back to the car is back across common land.  There are a series of better than average caches to find on the way and I quickly up my number for the day from a derisory 1 to an acceptable 5.

The pubs now open and I am greeted on my approach by one of the punter's springer spaniel.  Can dogs sniff out the inherent loneliness of a solo rambler?  Or does he just know I am buying scratchings?

The Plume

A very decent pint of Wye Valley Butty Bach

Decent Walk.  I won't be leaving it 7 years before doing another route from this publication.