27/06/20 - Fownhope and the Wye Valley Walk

Distance - 9 Miles
Geocaches - 6 Found
Walk Inspiration - The Times - June 6th 2020


That Times Newspaper from the start of June has paid for itself.  The second Saturday running that I have completed one of their "20 Walks for Summer".

This is a delight.

It suggests starting at the Green Man in Fownhope.  I'm hoping this is my last week of blogging Pub Walks without Pubs.  With it not quite open, I decide to relocate the start to a picnic area high above the River Wye at Brockhampton.

This also means that I can add a 2 mile loop to attempt some geocaches. I have a poor day, getting as many DNF as F and I cannot totally blame the cows.  All was not lost, I had superb views and stumbled across the thatched church, falsely appreciating its antiquity.  Only 118 years old in 2020.

Parking - High above the Wye... I'm bound to rue the walk back up at the end

Friends helping with the Geocaching

Brockhampton's Thatched Church

The Geocaches are laid along the Wye Valley Trail - which leads from the church up to Capler Camp Hillfort - providing views to the land where the pubs won't be open on the glorious 4th.

Looking over Wales

Agricultural land turns into Pagets/Lea Wood.  The views don't get any less impressive, even when looking back over to England.

Looking over England

Fownhope is dominated by its main road and provides access to the River Wye.  A bigger than expected church and two pubs - with the Green Man winning the prize for most impressive sign.

Would the New Inn have received the Mappiman Dollar?

or the no words required Green Man

A good couple of miles back along the meandering River Wye.  Canoeists, fly fishermen and a very hairy pathway at Leabank, where fortunately there were ropes to assist with a path that is falling into the river.  The canoeists had decided to commandeer a little beach, but a little further along is the remains of a ferry jetty.

Looked a perfect place for lunch.

As good as this Hawkshead Gold is, I am looking forward to next weeks cask.

My Lunch Spot for the day - the Swans know all the good places

The river is left behind at Brinkley Hill Farm.  The climb back to the picnic area showed me how it got it's name.

21/06/20 - Clee St Margeret and Stoke St Milborough

Distance - 7 Miles
Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine - June 2014 - Walk 7
Geocaches - 0



As much as a I like walking in the Shropshire wilds of the Clee Hills, its a real pain getting to.  Probably an over reliance on Sat Nav but at least half of the 20 mile journey is along single lane tracks, with blind bends and grass glowing along the middle.  Throw in kamikaze farm traffic and I am a mightily relieved man to have both made it there and back with the car in one piece.

Parking for this one is in a small area above Stoke St Millborough labelled Stoke Gorse on the map.  Having driven up the bank, I am pleased that I am walking down it to the quiet hamlet.   Not much to report from there - a well and a fable of the Abbess of Wenlock Priory falling off her horse and blessing the spring.

Of course, I hadn't read the walk instructions well enough to actually find the mythical spout.  I content myself with a walk around the remote church.

Stoke St Milborough Church

Unusually for a Country Walking Magazine route - the directions to and off Weston Hill are not great and the footpaths, when not completely overgrown, were bearing little resemblance to the OS Map.  It was a bit of battle that I was glad I had undertaken alone - without a wife to bend my ear and a dog to hoike over tied gates and wobbly stiles.

Arrow shows I am bang on where I need to be.  6ft ferns say otherwise

Still, the views from Weston Hill Trig Point were impressive, even if shared with interlopers amongst the sheep.

Crips vs the Bloods, Shropshire Style

Views from Weston Hill

The walking does improve from Cold Weston, where the chapel has been converted into a private residence and a mile of uninterrupted lane walking leads to a glorious sunken track at a property labelled as "The Boot".  Its suitably old and distinctive but Google research into whether it was ever a pub has been met with its the 7th most expensive property sold in Clee St Margaret.

Delightful sunken lane

This green path leads to Clee Brook - I fail to find the footbridge marked on the map, so some paddling is required before it reveals itself.

Plenty of time to dry off on the superbly wild section around Nordy Bank fort.  Exactly my type of walking - good tracks, extensive views and a little bit of sunshine.

Final section of the walk - looking back to Brown Clee Hill

20/06/20 - Hanbury Circular

Distance - 5 Miles
Geocaches - 1
Walk Inspiration - Times Summer Walks - 6th June 2020


Along with a weekly walk, the Saturday Times newspaper often has a collection of seasonal walks.  June 6th had "Summer Walks" and out of the 20 listed, 6 looked of interest - either by location or walk quality.  Pictures of routes saved to my Evernote organiser.

With the Championship resuming at 3pm, this little 5 miler from Hanbury Church looked just the ticket for a a football and pub starved rambler, his holiday starved wife and their up for anything Guide Dog in Training, Abi.

Parking is found on the high ground of Hanbury Church - a former iron age hillfort, with religious links going back over 1200 years. Audio from services are used in Radio 4's the Archers.

Hanbury Church on the high ground

We drop down through Pipers Hill woodland, picking up good paths on a field edge that has a stream.  One of the party provides a warning of what is to come by darting through the undergrowth for a splash around.

I'm free - to do whatever I want

Field Edges

The fields lead to the Worcester-Birmingham Canal, where we have about a mile of towpath walking. It seems cruel to have her on her lead, but Mrs M - the main trainer - is unsure if she can be trusted to not jump in.

Abi is our third dog and 2nd Guide Dog puppy we have trained.  Neither of the other two have leapt into a canal before.  I'm that convinced she will be fine, I put my usual post walk pint money on it - knowing I am saving money in the pub barren lockdown and can afford to be reckless.

That's a fiver I will never see again

Of course, she let me down. A dive in like a furry Tom Dailey and a swim around the canal like some sort of big golden otter.

To dry off, we have some more lovely field walking - an arrow straight path cut through the crops - before crossing the grounds of Hanbury Hall, debating whether it has a cafe and if so, whether it is open.

Alas, Google could not provide an answer to that question.

Hanbury Hall - we are reasonably sure there is a cafe behind

13/06/20 - Ridgeway Geocaching - Fox Hill to Waylands Smithy

Distance - 11.1 Miles
Geocaches - 38
Drink - Hobsons Old Henry at Bishopstone Folly


A chance to revisit the Ridgeway - a previously completed Long Distance Path. 

In the six years that have passed, new Geocache trails have been laid in the section between Fox Hill (famous for the aerial mast and what must be the biggest and remotest of the Indian restaurant pub conversions at the Burj) and Waylands Smithy, a neolithic long barrow.

The walking is easy - the Ridgeway is at its most track like - almost a metalled road.  Some people have taken to setting up camp and living on it. Should the economists be believed, we will all need to be thinking that way.

To the North, there are expansive views over Swindon, to the South sweeping fields of unripe wheat.

Views North

Views South

Treasure, for when you are bored of Views

I leave the Ridgeway to complete a loop of some very new Geocaches, before dropping down to the valley floor and walking the timeless villages of Ashbury, Idstone and Bishopstone - where it would have been the Royal Oak for a half of Arkells, if I was to show consistency with my previous visit.

Blogfans will know that I have been prepared over the last months.  No pubs, so freezer blocks in my rucksack, this week nestling against a Hobsons Old Henry.  Bishopstone Folly - a gap of Strip Lynchets providing access back to the Ridgeway looks as good a spot as any.

One more Cache and Lunch

Bless Me

I now understand why my hay-fever has been so bad.

06/06/20 - Concrete Jungle Geocaching at Little Wenlock

Distance - 9 miles
Geocaches - 60 in the round
Drink - Tring Brewery Drop Bar


When the next generation ask me "what did you do in the war on Covid 19?", I am going to have to answer "I mainly went searching for things like this".

Geocaching gets the boot

The Concrete Jungle series of caches have been out in the field for 8 years. Many haven't been found this year.  Walking alone, its not too surprising that I ended up with a relatively high percentage of DNF. Completing the circuit in reverse order, I also lost the trail from cache 10 downwards and ended up completing a noose shaped walk, with a repeat stretch along Limekiln Lane.

But not to worry - the walking - mainly in the shadow of the Wrekin and through the pretty village of Little Wenlock,  more than made up for any blue faces of shame that I left on the geo-map.

Best views of the day on the Approach to Little Wenlock

I also found inspiration for future walks - some of today's paths are shared with the Telford T50 - a 50 mile circuit of the town, broken down into 5 day walks. When I feel confident enough to venture on Public Transport again, I will be attempting this.

Shropshire way and the less known Telford T50

We are edging closer to when the pubs re-open and I hope the Huntsman in Little Wenlock survives.  My refreshments were a pre-planned picnic, sat on a stile on the outskirts of Huntington. With just the cows for company.

Last of the impressive bottle raid from Tring Brewery

Thanks to the nozi parkerz for a good day out in the countryside.