27/08/22 - Centenary Way - Stage 12 - Bubbenhall

Distance - 10 Miles

Geocaches - 3

Pub - The Malt Shovel, Bubbenhall

Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11

Just as I thought I would have something positive to say about the Centenary Way, HS2 raises it's ugly head.

And not for the first time HS2 has caused me consternation. I still haven't forgiven it for bulldozing one of my favoutite London Pubs, and home of my first ever Titanic Plum Porter, Euston's Bree Louise.  One of a handful of pubs where you needed to visit the gents in order to avoid the smell of the gents.

Today's leg of the Centenary Way starts delightfully. The pretty village of Bubbenhall, with one functioning pub and another about to rise phoenix-like from the ashes of closure. A charming church and some decent lavender filled countryside with good paths.

Bubbenhall Church

Walking through the Lavender Fiels

My suspicions around railway influenced diversions are raised as I approach Cubbington.  Fencing, and miles of it, first gently forces me off the Right of Way and then leaves me an impossible crossing, as I try and get to South Cubbington Wood.

The details may have been in the multi language manual, but who RTFMs these days?  The southern loop could have been avoided, as I hunted for a way to get back on track.

A simple "footpath closed" at the head of the trail would suffice

What do you get for £100bn?  Angry ramblers.  

I need a pint.

I rather liked the Malt Shovel, a much altered C17th Grade II listed former Malt House.  A faded Ansells signs and a bolted on chimney to a much older half timbered cottage.

Faded Ansells Signage

A chimney bolted on for the Maltings?

A smattering of lunchtime dining pensioners all on the Worthingtons keg.  A risk I wasnt prepared to take, as I made my way for the last of the Summer outdoor drinking.

Winter is coming.

Staropramen

21/08/22 - The Galton Arms, Himbleton

Distance - 5.5 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - Village Walks in Worcestershire, Walk 10

Good Beer Guide Tick - #704

The penultimate tick in the Worcestershire section of the Good Beer Guide. I am totally on track to reach for the green stabilio highlighter before the 2023 edition lands on the doormat in October. I look forward with interest to what HRH Prince of Wales has to say about pubs in his introduction.  Will his brother provide similar for the Good Pizza Guide?

The Galton Arms is the focal point of a charming "black and white" village walk that incorporates some fine architecture. Old churches, old manor houses associated with the Gunpowder Plot and lots of Worcestershire farm land make up the 5 mile ramble.

Himbleton Church and its 1910 added Clock 

Mostly this....

The pub is reminiscent of our last Good Beer Guide Tick - the Farmers Arms in Birtsmorton.  An ancient wooden beamed barn of a place.

Timeless

Internet sleuthing.... previously the Harrow Arms (the road is called Harrow Lane), it was renamed in 1901 to commemorate Sir Douglas Galton.  The family like memorials. As well as the clock tower in the church, they commissioned a window in Worcester Cathedral.

Plenty of material to digest on-line. If its TL-DR, go to the bottom right hand story. The current landlord banning the cricket team for swearing and being scruffs. They went on to bat under the name IBBBBB XI - an acronym for I've Been Banned by Bastard Ben. I can't comment on the sartorial elegance of their cricket whites but the complaint on swearing is upheld.

On our visit, the lovely beer garden was filling with cyclists and it didn't take me long to spot the distinctive hue of Bathams Bitter. 

A permanent feature and reason enough for to visit, should you be in this neck of the words, have smart clothes and don't possess a potty mouth.

Fitting Finale to any ramble

20/08/22 - The Oxford Trek - Stage 1 - Bladon to Bletchingdon

Distance - 7.5 Miles

Geocaches - 1

A new circular walk around a city - this time The Oxford Trek - a long out of print guide from my favourite druid, Laurence Main.  His book details a 64 mile circuit and it starts at the final resting place of one of Britain's most famous sons.

A man that once replied to the insult "If you were my husband, I would poison your tea" by retorting "If you were my wife, I would drink it".

Churchill

Bladon Church

Considering the attention his statue gets in Parliament Square, I am kind of surprised at the lack of security.  Maybe they don't get leftie activists in this quiet corner of Oxfordshire.  At least not until the winter fuel bills come in.

A short walk along the walls of Blenheim Palace and into Woodstock, where my disappointment at being too early for the pubs is alleviated by the fact that the most prominent one is Arkells.

A peak through the main visitor gates to Blenheim Palace

The Punch Bowl - Well Kept Real Ales

Leaving Woodstock behind, the walk presents arable fields, with a couple of miles distraction along the Oxford Canal.

Walk is mainly this....

... with a bit of this thrown in.

The bus to Oxford from Bletchingdon is hourly on the 33rd minute.  I arrive at the 11:37.  The pub is closed until midday, so I wonder how I will entertain myself for all of 23 minutes.

It's then that I notice people queuing at the bus stop. And they are waiting for the Oxford bus. When I comment that it is late, they answer "it is but its now behind you".

The Blacks Head Inn will have to wait for another day. There's lots to see and do in Oxford.

All of Bletchingdon

07/08/22 - The Farmer's Arms, Birtsmorton

Distance - 3 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - Pub Walks in the Malvern Hills, Walk 20

Less said about the walk, the better.  It was along quiet lanes and agricultural fields in the shadow of the Southern Malvern Hills but there were issues. Footpaths disappearing into head height crops.  Locked gates on Public Rights of Ways. Poor signage. Broken bridges. The list was near endless and I really should report the obstructions to Worcestershire Council.

Early Harvest in a Heatwave

Lets concentrate on the Pub.

The Farmers Arms is a timeless joy and my third from last Worcestershire Tick in the 2022 Good Beer Guide.

Getting very close to completing my home county

My walking guide book is a mere 20 years old - nothing when you consider that parts of the pub building supposedly date from 1480.  A drovers stop for cattle men making their way from Wales to London.  As per the text, it remains a Hook Norton House.

Give us our daily beer

Popular on a Sunday lunch - with the usual suspects.  Farmers, bemoaning the heat wave. Classic car enthusiasts on a jolly.  A potential first date between a pair of septuagenarians on the next table.  Not our fault they talked so loud that we had no choice but to eavesdrop.

No interior photos of a bar that looked unchanged for decades.  Camra Heritage Pubs claiming the internal fit is from the 1950s.

Hook Norton Old Hooky just about surviving the heat but its the menu that will be remembered.  Although unavailable on a Sunday (our day of visit) the A4 laminate detailed a mixed grill.  That contained liver.  And kidneys.

I will be back for the Holy Grail of grills.

06/08/22 - Clee Hill to Tenbury Wells

Distance - 7 Miles

Geocaches - 1 and an Adventure Lab Cache

Pubs - 3

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, June 2022, Walk 9

Sometimes you need to rely on others for inspiration. This fine walk was the brainchild of Julie Royle from Country Walking Magazine. She came up with the idea of getting the bus to the highest road in Shropshire - the A4117 at Clee Hill - and then walking downhill into Tenbury Wells.

Knowing the area, it was the downhill part of the plan that appealed. I've even left the elevation graphic on the route to demonstrate the slippery slope.

Diamond Bus Rover Pass which gets me from home to Clee Hill, via Kidderminster.  A quick find of the Toposcope to mark to beginning of the walk. This information board is also the data source for a Multi-Geocache, the only physical find of the day.

Views to the Brecon Beacons

Clee Hill Residents on the way to the Geocache Prize

Onto the walking. There's a few buildings of interest - the tiny church at Hope Bagot overshadowed by the much larger one at Nash.  The Court of the Hill, marked on the OS Map in a medieval font - to demonstrate its age. The paths are not too steep but become increasingly indistinct the further down the hill you go. Julie is a real trooper.

Court of the Hill - a former boys school

Nash Church

Into Tenbury with 90 minutes to kill before the scheduled 2:30 bus back to Kidderminster.

River Teme - looking low - marks the entrance to Tenbury

Adventure Lab Cache and Pub(s) it is.

Tenbury - called the town in the orchard - is not a hot-bed of real ale. A check of the Good Beer Guide Apps shows the nearest entry is 7 miles away. On a summer's day, I could have been tempted by a real cider but I failed to find much evidence of that beverage either.

But there was a beery surprise.  The Market Tavern has just benefited from a takeover and complete refit by the Black Country Ales chain.  Not only are they extending their reach into the Marches, they appear to be trying to win "fastest growing pub chain of the year".  The landlord tells me the next opening is in Hereford.

With many of the Black Country Ales pubs in the Good Beer Guide, this could well be a preemptive tick.

But first the Crow, situated next to the historic spa rooms.

The Town in the Orchard

No cask of note.  No cider of note, I went for a Camden Hells. The landlord, taking me for the tourist I am, asked for "£8.60".  I replied "I know its from London but you can't charge London Prices".  Turns out he was having a little joke with the new rambler in town. Sitting at the bar, I did overhear his plans to save the locals from the spiraling cost of beer. 

A promotion to buy 4 Jagermeisters and get free red bull. I'll keep my eyes peeled for Saturday night civil disturbances in the local papers. Alcohol and Red Bull - one drink to take away your inhibitions, the other to give you energy to do something about it.

A pub with a lick of paint.  Historic round Market House just behind

No surprises at the Market Tavern - following the BCA blue print to the letter. The only additional things promoted here are cheese and onion cobs. That was lunch sorted.

A finish off of the ALC and into the Vaults for the 30 minute wait for the bus. To give you an indication of the drinks range here, I had a bottle of Holsten Pills. I checked the sell by date, having not seen it since the last century.

The bus was on time but not Diamond.... so the Rover Pass was invalid.  But fear not, a 40 minute commute back to Kiddy was a bargain £3.