03/12/16 - Wye to Thames - Walk 6 - Pershore to Evesham

Distance - 8 Miles
Geocaches - 11
Previous Walks - Walk 1, Walk 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5
Pub - The Red Lion, Evesham, Hung, Drawn and Portered

Never has a walk started so poorly and ended so spectacularly.

My guide book - from the Wye to the Thames - was written well before Pershore Trading estate was built.  Trying to find where the footpaths have disappeared to as you walk past a series of light industrial units is no way to start a day.  Even if I do walk past the Pershore Brewery.

Correct paths are found when I enter Wyre Piddle.  A place much sniggered at but previously unvisited.

All depends on where you place the inflection

Nice place Wyre Piddle.  As well as the above wine bar, there was a nice looking pub - the Anchor.  I may need to come back to investigate.

Plenty of interest on this walk, as I make my way through several Worcestershire villages.  Wyre Piddle, gives way to Lower Moor, which in turn leads to Fladbury.  A chance to rectify some previous DNF caches, including an absolute swine at a railway crossing.  At least I had superb views of my favourite hill, Bredon, as I stumbled around before I cried "Eureka!"

I'll never forget this vista

Enjoy my walk through Fladbury, following the meadows next to the River Avon down to Jubilee and then a climb into Cropthorne, with its beautiful church.

View North from Jubilee Bridge

Cropthorne Church

A couple of pleasant miles over farmland and through orchards.  I've not walked these paths before, as there are a number of caches to find.  Then. at the top of Clark's Hill, Evesham reveals itself in all its glory.

Evesham - with its 1 Good Beer Guide Pub Below

The guide books suggested that I could take the Ferry across the Avon.  I never thought for a minute that it would be still running in a) December and b) 2016.

I was delighted to see it moored on the opposite side and a sign suggesting it was running all day.

The Hampton Ferry

To summon the Ferry, you just have to loiter for a bit and wait for a man to appear on the opposite bank and shout if you want to come across.

Oh yes, I do.  What a way to end a walk.

Evesham has one Good Beer Guide entry - the Red Lion.  There's not too much information about it on the web and unusually, it cannot be seen from Google Maps.  No fear, my Ferryman asks if I need directions in Evesham and I ask him on its whereabouts.  He is delighted to tell me the way and state that he is in there most evenings, drunk.

Lets hope he hasn't got to operate any heavy machinery, where the public could be endangered, in the morning :-)

A great experience and he is well worth his 100% tip.  (Ferry Cost one way, 50p)

I am delivered a touch early for the pub - so a chance to get a couple of caches and admire the old part of the town.

Evesham Church

War Memorial

Near the Red Lion

And how about this for Pub Good News?  The Red Lion has been closed for 100 years.  After opening as a pub in 1728, it closed in 1910 before being reclaimed and re-opened in 2014.

A central bar with two serving hatches at either end.  The front of the bar is packed but I do manage to squeeze in and get a simply stunning pint of North Cotswold Brewery Hung Drawn and Quartered.

I ask if they do food and told they don't but I am welcome to bring my own.  So out I go to get a festive pastie (Turkey and Cranberry to the horror of traditionalists), come back in and have to fight my way past a troupe of Morris Men to get into the back room.

Where the Landlady attempts to put the Christmas decorations up around me.

If I'd have stayed for another, I would be part of the display.

Could have done with more authentic chairs

Pint of the Year?  Very Possibly.