24/11/19 - Heart of England Way Summary

Length of Heart of England Way - 102 Miles
Amount walked on Circular Walks - 234.75
Geocaches Found - 163
Stages Completed In - 32
Start - Milford Visitor Centre, Cannock Chase - 17/05/17
Finish - Bourton on the Water - 24/11/19


The Heart of England Way is one of those footpaths that keep stumbling on when walking around the Midlands.   It starts at Cannock Chase and then winds it way south, to the East of Birmingham, through Warwickshire and into the gorgeous parts of the Cotswolds.

You could walk all 102 miles over a long week.  Or you could take your time on a series on monthly day walks, following routes developed in a guide book by Stephen Cross that I no longer have any use for.

Highlights
Easy Midlands walking, with at least one pub at every location.   Lichfield was a real joy, and as I travelled on the train, I was able to investigate four good beer guide pubs after my walk.  Berkswell, Henley and Alcester are picture postcard perfect English Villages and of course, you end in the Cotswolds where people travel from around the world to admire the chocolate box cottages.

Lowlights
Cannock Chase promises a lot to the walker but is monotonous and the first four legs start to become very dull.

The Stages

Stage 1 - Milford Visitor Centre
Stage 2 - Cannock Chase Glacial Erratic
Stage 3 - Cannock Chase Visitors Centre
Stage 4 - Cannock Chase Castle Ring
Stage 5 - Cresswell Green
Stage 6 - Lichfield
Stage 7 - Hints
Stage 8 - Drayton Bassett
Stage 9 - Kingsbury
Stage 10 - Whitacre Heath
Stage 11 - Shustoke
Stage 12 - Fillongley
Stage 13 - Kinwalsey
Stage 14 - Meriden
Stage 15 - Berkswell
Stage 16 - Temple Bassall
Stage 17 - Lapworth
Stage 18 - Into Henley
Stage 19 - Out of Henley
Stage 20 - Great Alne
Stage 21 - Alcester
Stage 22 - Into Bidford
Stage 23 - Out of Bidford
Stage 24 - Pebworth
Stage 25 - Long Marston
Stage 26 - Mickleton
Stage 27 - Chipping Campden
Stage 28 - Blockley
Stage 29 - Out of Blockley
Stage 30 - Moreton in the Marsh
Stage 31 - Stow on the Wold
Stage 32 - Bourton on the Water

The Photo Album

24/11/19 - Heart of England Way - Stage 32 - The End

Distance - 8 Miles
Geocaches - 1
Pubs - GBG Tick # 432 - Mousetrap Inn, Bourton on the Water
Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11, Stage 12, Stage 13, Stage 14, Stage 15, Stage 16, Stage 17, Stage 18, Stage 19, Stage 20, Stage 21, Stage 22, Stage 23, Stage 24, Stage 25, Stage 26, Stage 27, Stage 28, Stage 29, Stage 30, Stage 31

The conditions were not a fitting end to my monthly rambles on the Heart of England Way.   I started in April 2017 in Cannock Chase and knocked a circular walk until 32 were completed, finally arriving in Bourton-on-the-Water for the grand finale.   I wanted blue skies and solid ground.   I got dank November mist and mud but miseries were soon forgotten with a 2020 Good Beer Guide Tick at the Mousetrap.

Heading North East out of the Village across the Salmonsbury Meadows Nature reserve, I'm quickly aware of what I am in for on today's walk.

Grim, by any standard

The only thing to keep me going is the promise of my post walk pint and laughing at other walkers who have not realised that trainers aren't going to cut it.   A high percentage of them are Americans, presumably lured in by Cotswold honey stoned village charm but then hoping that the slurry in the cow fields is only mud.   Some ruined reeboks for sure.

I could bring you more photos of dank fields but we'll move onto the final stages.   Hyde Mill provides a touch of interest - the final resting spot of a racehorse who's name I failed to record but overheard a local explain it was a Gold Cup Winner.   Its prime walking country and many ways (Monarchs, MacMillan, HOEW, Gloucestershire) share the same paths.   Lower Slaughter is the only village passed on route and its a damn fine one.   Stream running through the centre, impressive church and the Slaughters pub.   Try to imagine it in the sunshine.

Hyde Mill

All the ways, sharing nicely

Lower Slaughter - gentle stream, pub, off image church

To reach the Mousetrap and celebrate the closure of a long term goal, I have to enter Bourton on the Water in the Landsdown area - ever so slightly away from the tourists trying to find Birdland.

Its a handsome, small single roomed freehouse.   As you'd expect, there's a heavy emphasis on food and as I sat at the bar, I saw several disappointed walk-ins politely informed to keep on walking if they hadn't booked a table.

The drinker hasn't been forgotton and quite rightly, its in the Good Beer Guide.  This is an achievement lost on the much bigger Stow-on-the-Wold just up the road and the centre point for the previous leg on the HOEW.

There's three real ales on - two from local breweries and a Titantic number that wasn't plum porter.  The Stroud Brewery Fall - a Smoky Bitter - was perfect.   The wall shows the clip pumps from past beers.  Pints are offered in straight or handled glasses.  Toilet Art, ever so slightly homo-erotic.  I feel the landlord may be having a joke on middle England sensibilities.   Where as you normally expect saucy carry on cartoons, we had half naked, mustachioed men, embracing.

Mousetrap Inn

Stroud Brewery Fall - Smoky Bitter

So that's the Heart of England Way over - and a summary blog of all stages is available here.

New adventures await in 2020.

02/11/19 - Pub Ticking in EC3

Pubs - 3
Good Beer Guide Ticks - #430 and #431


A free afternoon after a short leg on Des De Moor's London Country Way, so I use one of his other reference guides to find entertainment near Fenchurch Street.   The Camra Guide to London's best pubs and bars cab be combined with the more regularly consulted Good Beer Guide to find the more interesting places to drink on the edge of the City.

Draft House, Seething Lane, London Lush by London Brewing Company

I blame the Neon.  Outside, Rub, turns to Dub, which of course turns to Pub.

Interactive Pub Signage

Inside, its all Wort, Hops and Yeast.

Focus on the Pint

The bright lights distracted me from the what I should have ordered.   I failed to spot the Tankovna of unfiltered Pilsner Urquell and the sign that detailed how long it had been since it was tapped.  Fresh as a daisy, at a mere one day old.

Not that there was anything wrong with my London Lush Pale Ale but the former is not available everywhere.   I need to make notes BEFORE I come out.

Could that be the Tankovna above the bar

There's other signs.   "It don't mean, if it ain't got that wing".   The concrete roof, with mandatory exposed ducting, does little to dampen the noise of over enthusiastic table football players.

I need something more traditional - even if I will be returning for the Pilsner.

The Ship, Talbot Court, London Pride - GBG #430

More in keeping with my needs - a traditional pub swallowed up by office buildings and loomed over by the Walkie Talkie building but proudly shouting - a pub has stood here since before the Fire of London.

Hidden from view...

... but gorgeous from every angle

It's a tiny Nicholson's pub, with narrow gangways, very hard furniture and more than a hint of being a gin palace.   Only a winged back Chesterfield could improve things.

Several real ales on and I played safe with a London Pride - having seen the quality from the French tourists who ordered four before me.   When its kept this well, there's few better pints.

Well maybe ESB.

Trad Nicholsons

Crosse Keys, Gracechurch Street, London Pride, GBG Tick #431

Whether to Wetherspoons.  That's always the conundrum.  Do I continue to give the Mappiman Dollar to a vocal brexiteer who provides further annoyance by having banned dogs from his esablishments?   Even if he is morphing into Father Jack?

Lets say I am here for the Architecture.   As a working class lad, why wouldn't I want to drink in the marble columned opulence of HSBC's HQ?   They've had my current account for 34 years, after all.

Bankers HQ

Wow.

There's one table free.   Of course its sticky.   Of course there's dead glasses aplenty.   But how can I protect this as a solo explorer and order my drink?

There's plenty of signs saying don't leave bags unattended and a damp rucksack may not look like much of a prize but there is a £40 German Trekking umbrella sticking out the side pocket.

Then a brainwave.   I'll get down with the kids.   I'll download an app.

Yes, it meant I couldn't see the TV screens and be mightily confused by the 24 real ale possibilities but I probably would have just stared at them for 10 minutes and ordered the same London Pride that I selected from the app.

With Nachos.

Less than 10 minutes admiring the architecture and the goods were delivered.  Ok, the Pride wasn't a patch on the Ship and the Nachos were missing the Salsa but I have seen the future and I like it.

Full House at the JDW

02/11/19 - London Countryway Stage 21 - Brentwood to West Horndon

Distance - 6 Miles
Start - Brentwood
Finish - West Horndon
Geocaches - 3
Pubs - The Railway Hotel, West Horndon
Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11, Stage 12, Stage 13, Stage 14, Stage 15, Stage 16, Stage 17, Stage 18, Stage 19, Stage 20


All things move toward their end and a nice easy leg on the penultimate stage of London Countryway.

A mere 6 miles and downhill all the way, as I move towards the flatlands of the River Thames estuary.

Not that today's walk was lacking in drama.   The majority of the walk is in Thorndon Country Park - officially closed to the public due to high winds.  I've set the alarm at 5:40am, travelled 130 miles and have targets to meet - so I conducted my own health and safety assessment.   Hard shell goretex top and bottoms and a German made trekking umbrella and I will be fine.

I'm not going to lie - the wind did test the umbrella.

Grim and soggy start at Brentwood Station and a short mile through the housing estates before picking up the woodland that provides some respite from the gales.    Very little to bring you in the way of photos, but if you're going to walk in woodland, doing it in Autumn provides the optimal experience.

Today's Walk - Mainly Woodland

Perfect in Autumn

Old Hall Pond - the only Variety

I'd done my research and the comments on Des's blog had warned of the dangers and futility of trying to cross the A127 at the official footpath crossing.   Dick Bowman, who's GPX files I am following, managed to successfully cross without diversion.   I can only assume he did this at 3am on a Sunday morning.    I waited for 10 minutes, but there was no chance of getting through four lanes of speeding cars. 

At least I knew which way to go for the nearest safe crossing - and a grim one mile diversion it was to.   I know the answer to the question "Where does Essex man dispose of plastic water bottles that are certainly recycled for a use other than the storage of water".

Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, cross the A127

And onto Essex Man, I might as well meet him at his lowest ebb but in his natural habitat.   No danger of the Railway Hotel (further proof that the scariest pubs always have Railway in the title) not being open at 11:57am.

England had lost in a rugby final in a game that had started at 8:30am.   The flat capped, tattooed ones were fours hours into an early doors drinking day.   They were showing no signs of going back to reality any time soon.

West Hordon's Railway Hotel