21/07/26 - St Michael's Boundary Walk, Tenbury Wells

12 Miles of Nothingness

The idea for this walk came from the "Boundary Walk" for the Beltane Pilgrimage. AI based research managed to find 8 out of the potential 29 walks. A tick-list was formed. Rare access to the car, meant I could head off to Tenbury Wells for a route that I approached with justified trepidation.

In this part of the world, the paths are usually in chronic condition. A look on the map, and I could see that there was little of interest. Although the paths were better than expected, there were issues. If I knew exactly which county I was in, I would probably log dense undergrowth and locals blockading rights of ways and removing signage. 

No one to report in the lack of villages, pubs or items of interest to. Unless you like dilapidated farms, abandoned golf courses, orchards and wheat fields, there is little for you here. If it wasn't for St Michaels School and a rather unusual church, there would have been nothing to blog about. The walk became a time trial. Could I maintain > 3 mph in a heatwave?

Very specific signage

Herefordshire Orchards

Inquisitive horses, with Titterstone Clee Hill behind.

St Michaels's provided the first place of shelter for lunch and remains of water. An imposing church - especially considering the remoteness - that is nowhere near as old as it looks.

St Michael and All Angels Church, Tenbury Wells stands in an isolated position on the edge of Oldwood Common, about a mile south-west of Tenbury Wells, and is one of the most remarkable Victorian churches in Worcestershire. Built between 1856 and 1858 as the centrepiece of St Michael's College, Tenbury, it was the vision of the Reverend Sir Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley, a priest, musicologist and passionate reformer of Anglican church music. Designed in the Gothic Revival style by Henry Woodyer, the church was intended to recreate the atmosphere of a medieval collegiate foundation, complete with a renowned choir school, daily choral worship and an exceptional musical tradition. Its soaring architecture, Hardman stained glass and magnificent Father Willis organ reflect Ouseley’s belief that music should be at the heart of worship. The college closed in 1985, but the church remains a remarkable survival — a “mini-cathedral” in the Worcestershire countryside and a lasting monument to Victorian devotion, scholarship and the revival of Anglican musical life.

Tinderbox landscape

I missed the organ. Here is the altar. 

Walk Details

Distance - 12 miles

Geocaches - 0

Pub - 0

Interesting villages - 0

Highlights on Komoot - 0

Walk Inspiration

20/07/26 - Wychbury Hill

Temples and Yew Trees

There was simply too much inspiration in section 2 of Jonathan Meades Travels with Pevsner. The main topic was Georgian Pershore but how could I ignore "the most momentous building in Worcestershire".

This is the Temple of Theseus. Built in 1758 by Lord Lyttleton, so he could look out over the Malvern Hills. It is the first example of neo-classical architecture in Europe.

There's a lot going on at Wychbury Hill. I have already told the tale of "Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?". No need to repeat it here, but of course, there will be a photo of the obelisk. I also remembered that the Mysteries of Mercia Facebook page had discussed the yew trees at the iron-age hillfort. These were to be investigated. 

A walk was easily fashioned, a variation of the "Rail Trail" between Hagley and Stourbridge.

The temple is not strictly on a footpath, but on the ground, there is a well trodden path - either caused by graffiti artists, drinkers who like a view or possibly even the new inhabitants, usurping Lord Lyttelton but getting the same views. 

How we look after the county's most important architecture 

Perfectly Proportioned by James Stuart - following a pilgrimage to measure the original

Cows had already trampled the fencing

Folly Views

Back to the proper footpaths, via the obelisk.

Obelisk

Bella - an unsolved 1940s murder victim

Next stop, the yew trees of Wychbury Hillfort and have spawned a number of legends. Was it the site of an ancient battle between the Romans and the natives? Is Wychbury Hill the final resting place of King Arthur? Are the yew trees a manifestation of fallen warriors? Probably not. Is the site use by local pagans during key calendar events? Yes. But why?

In pre-Christian pagan traditions across Britain and north-west Europe, the yew tree was revered as a symbol of death, rebirth and eternal life. Remarkably long-lived and capable of regenerating from ancient wood, it seemed to embody the endless cycle of nature, making it a powerful emblem of immortality and the passage between this world and the Otherworld. Yews were often associated with sacred sites, burial places and places of ritual, where they represented wisdom, protection and ancestral memory.

My favourite on-line resource is from the Ancient Yew Tree  website. Someone went to the trouble of mapping the 23 trees, providing a summary and a description of each individual tree. You've got to love the Internet. Next, middle aged men will be writing about their walks and pints and hoping someone out there finds it of interest.

x marks SO9205581800 - a perfect place for lunch. 

It's incredibly accurate and easy to follow. A circuit of the hillfort and most of the trees were identified.

One of the 23.  We'll leave it there. No need for the other 22

30 minutes spent lunching in a Pagan worship spot, the GPS left on, explaining the random mess on the track recording.

Finally, a drop down to Stourbridge for one of the CAMRA's Heritage pubs. The Seven Stars.

Handy for the Station

Built for Mitchells & Butlers Brewery and opened in January 1905, the Seven Stars has an outstanding collection of M&B etched and painted windows plus much Maw & Co wall tiling.

The entrance hall has lots of light blue and cream dado tiling, which extends up the stairs and into the public bar. That room has its original counter and a superb four-bay, mirrored bar-back with a clock-adorned pediment. Below the pediment is a recently-reopened hatch to the smoke room behind. This is modernised but bell pushes remain above the benches, as do fine etched windows. The restaurant left of the hallway has nothing of historic interest bar a couple of windows.

Recently, it was closed down for a number of years, until resurrected by the Black Country Ales chain. Incredible really, they have changed nothing (apart from the drinks available) and it has gone from an unviable business to one that you are lucky to get a seat. As with all BCA Pubs, the drinks available are many, usually unheard of, a dedication to real cider and always well kept.

Interior Intact - Hobson's Town Crier chosen

Walk Details

Distance - 4 miles

Geocaches - 2

Future Inspiration

Ancient Yew Group

White Dragon

Tales from the Halfshire Hundred

17/07/26 - Rail Trail - Tewkesbury to Pershore

Pevsner's Pershore

The second part of Jonathan Meades Travels with Pevsner details Pershore. A perfectly intact Georgian town.

A Walk Midlands Rail Trail from WalkMidlands has been on the to-do list for a while. Time to knock this off, and investigate Toyah-town with eyes afresh.

After a couple of city walks, it's good to be in the countryside again, even if this falls at the boring end of the walking scale. We have flat agricultural fields - burnt to a crisp, hard underfoot and with significant cracks in the soil ready to twist an unsuspecting ankle. The prize - Bredon Hill - is permanently in view - with only a couple of Northern Cotswold villages to break up the monotony.

Ashchurch, providing the only geocache of the day

Today's vista

Too early for Kemerton's Crown Inn - a mooch around the church instead

I'm unsure if I have approached Bredon Hill from this direction before but as with the routes I have taken, it's a gentle climb. Shady woodland at the top provides a fine location for a lunch break. 

Pershore - identified by the Abbey below

The descent is via the Wychavon Way, familiar paths touching Great Comberton and the river Avon for a brief moment before more flat walking to the town.

Great Comberton Church

Pershore's old bridge declaring the walk is over

Pevsner dedicates many pages to the Abbey. I decide to only concentrate on Bridge Street - his text providing detail on design features otherwise missed, but I will spare you photos of doorways.

Bridge Street is also home to an ever dwindling number of pubs. The Brandy Cask now a private home.

The ones that remain hardly tear up any trees but after drinking increasingly warm water in a heatwave, the euro fizz available was more than welcome.

Cruzcampo and a riverside terrace

Millers Arms - former GBG and best in town (IMHO)

The Three Tuns in Pevsner's text - now a "not for Mappiman" hotel

For ladies who lunch and also a Championship Timothy Taylor outlet for cooler days

Walk Details

Distance - 10.75 miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - Walk Midlands

16/07/26 - Stanley Park to Stanley Docks, Liverpool

Football Crazy

The day after the night before. That old familiar England supporter feeling. We were so close, yet nowhere near. Even my Gareth Southgate-hating mate was admitting he may have been hasty. 

Only one thing could cheer me up. More football.

Admittedly, I'd booked the rail tickets before consulting the wall chart. The traditional "knocked out of a major tournament" whisky may have been a bad idea, as the alarm went at 6am.

A painless journey to Lime Street and the PlusBus ticket to drop me off at the edge of Stanley Park for my latest Liverpool A-Z walk. Originally hosting the stadiums for Liverpool and Everton, I will have to work for the second location. Anfield takes the early glory with some stunning street art and a celebration of a team that knows how to win.

Stadium in the heart of the community

Stars - present and past - are celebrated in style

Bill made people happy. Thomas did not

Anfield is left behind for Everton Rise - a public park that offers a perfect view over the city. It really shouldn't be missed and if the OS produce a second edition of the AZ book, I would suggest they make this Walk 1. From this view, you get to understand the port city.

The City from Everton Rise

The view also shows Everton's ground - relocated to the docks. This is accessed via Summer Street - an interesting street of Arts and Crafts houses and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

Looking down the final spur of the Leeds - Liverpool Canal to Stanley Docks

For the new Stadium

Alas, Everton's home feels a little soulless in comparison to the splendour of Anfield. I'm sure the Liverpudlians won't allow it to affect the match-day atmosphere in the way the relocation at West Ham did.

Time to call it a day and a bus back to the city. Through this AZ Guide book, I have been investigating Liverpool for three years. Over that time, the 'Spoons pubs have dropped out of the Good Beer Guide, only to come back in the 2026 edition.

The Captain Alexander allows me to "green" the city centre in the book - but there's nothing new for me to say here.

Architecturally dull, cheap, dirty tables, efficient app service - a sh*t sandwich review

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - 18

Walk Inspiration - Liverpool A-Z City Walks, Walk 13

Previous Liverpool A-Z City Walks - Walks 1 and 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5, Walk 6 and 7, Walk 8 and 9, Walk 10, Walk 11 and 12

14/07/26 - Rail Trail - Smethwick Galton Bridge to The Hawthorns

Quadruple Inspiration to Find "Sand Well"

A lot going on for a simple walk between two West Midlands Railway Stations.

History West Midlands Podcasts

My monthly listen is the opening podcast about the Black Country, focusing on the post WWII glory years. Full employment, workers rights, massive house building. Setting the boomers up for a life of good luck unavailable to the future generations. 

There is nothing specifically mentioned in terms of people or places to base a walk on. The Bentley Estate in Darlaston a possibility but I doubt it offers much in the way of walking or pubs. The GKN factory in Heath Street long gone. Inspiration was found from the former mining works in Sandwell Valley Country Park. A walk - the Miner's Trail - was found and adapted into the walk.

Sandwell Country Park - a pond hiding former mine works

The real interest here is from a much older age. Three information boards tell all you need to know about the spring that gave the area its name, a priory and a later hall. Only some foundations - and the unattractive, sandbagged spring remain.

Tucked away in Sandwell Valley are the remains of Sandwell Priory, a small Benedictine monastery founded in the late 12th century beside the Sand Well, a natural spring believed to possess healing qualities that gave both the priory and the modern borough their name. Following the priory's closure in 1525, the site later became home to Sandwell Hall, a grand country house built by the Dartmouth family in the early 18th century. Although the hall was demolished in 1928, archaeological excavations have since revealed the foundations of both the medieval priory and the later mansion, allowing visitors to trace more than 700 years of history in a single peaceful corner of the valley.

Priory and Hall Remains

Sandwell, bubbling up

Pub Walks in the Black Country

My next walk from this book is in Sandwell Country Park. Only two miles, and covering the afore-photographed pond, Swan Pond and the priory remains. Two miles cannot justify the public transport costs for a separate visit, so I simply add most of the loop into the walk. And the pub? The Churchfield Tavern, Little Lane is recommended for Banks Bitter and Mild.

Demolished in 2013

From the photo, it looks a mishmash of extensions, with a rather oddly positioned chimney. Research shows that somewhere there was a both a bowling green and a petting zoo for goats, horses and rabbits.

High in the list of google results was Alan Winfield's epic (aren't they always) 1988 pub crawl of West Bromwich. Added to my to-do list to see if anything still remains in this fast changing pub ticking world. 13 pubs are listed, my betting is there are no more than four remaining. 

I will report back.

Dudley Geosites

Sandwell Valley Country Park and Smethwick Galton Bridge are both Dudley Geosite locations. 2 more knocked off.

Rail Trails

Of course, there is no official route from Smethwick Galton Bridge to The Hawthorns. An unofficial one from Railwalks.co.uk is only 1.2 miles (but the next stage is perfect, downloaded and ready to go). It's down to me to work out how to cross the bridge and get to Sandwell Country Park. A decent enough urban walk on properly marked walking/cycling paths. I learn just how close the Vine is to SGB station, which I am sure will come in useful. Handy twirly footbridges allow for safe crossings of dual carriageways and an interesting way to access Dartmouth Park.

SGB, 1829 and once the highest single span bridge in the world. Looks better from the canal below.

A view of Turner's Hill from a twirly footbridge

Dartmouth Park leads to Sandwell Country Park, where Park Lane can be avoided by a parallel, unmarked footpath that avoids death-by-hatchback. Into Handsworth Cemetery, where a handily placed exit leaves you opposite the Hawthorns, stadium, not station.

Proving just how much of a community club West Bromwich Albion are, they offer a lovely Garden of Remembrance. Loved ones' ashes can be left looking at the stadium. It has been my dad's home for the last 11 years.

Of course, I popped in. 

"Gone for a shout"

Walk Details

Distance - 6 miles

Geocaches - 2

Previous Stages on the Wyre Valley Line - Worcester to Droitwich, Droitwich to Hartlebury, Hartlebury to Kidderminster, Kidderminster to Hagley, Hagley to Stourbridge, Stourbridge to Cradley Heath, Cradley Heath to Old Hill, Old Hill to Langley Green, Langley Green to Smethwick Galton Bridge

10/07/26 - Uplyme to Lyme Regis

Borderland

I am guessing the river Lim marks the boundary of Dorset and Devon. Not that there is any condiment faux pas to be made regarding baked goods.

Being 100% honest, I wasn't necessarily up for this walk. We had completed an hour with the dog before the heatwave really struck home and the thought of going on a march in the midday sun was only appealing to mad dogs.

Yet Mrs M was right. She also found Gyros for lunch. So hats off to Mrs M for the encouragement.

The walk was meant to start in one of the Lyme Regis car parks - but in a bid to save £8, I notice a big blue cup of joy at the village of Uplyme - en route. This is the Talbot Arms and it has a large car park. It is only on our return that an A-board has been placed saying "Parking only whilst using the pub". We did use the pub and there was plenty of space.

The walk creator was really keen to show the Cannington Viaduct. Footpaths were available that would have avoided a there and back walk under it. An impressive architectural feat, especially when you consider it was only in operation for 62 years. It would take modern Britain longer than that to build it today.

Mrs M lightening the mood by commenting it's a fine place for suicides

Lanes, woodland and fields take us to the SWCP on Ware Cliffs, via a steep and perilous descent at Chimney Rock. 

Chimney Rock

On the SWCP, looking towards Golden Cap

Downhill all the way to the Cobb end of Lyme Regis. The conditions today making it impossible to ask Mrs M to channel her inner French Lieutenant's Woman.

View from the Cobb

An endless choice of refreshment options in Lyme Regis. Personally, we're never going to walk past a sign at the Royal Standard offering Gyros. It's been long enough that we've forgotten how tricky a pitta bread stuffed with sauce, chicken, salad and chips can be to eat. 

Our sauce covered beard (me), shins and walking papoose (Mrs M) are soon hidden away from the crowds as we follow yesterday's discovered River Lim Path all the way to the pub to pay for parking.

The Talbot Arms, Uplyme

A pleasant enough single roomer that could only be improved with air-conditioning. Three of the Otter Family of beers were available but it was far too 'ot to risk cask. I need to work on my pronunciation, but this Spanish Lout really hit the spot.

The blog is due a change of direction.

The Mahous are on me

Walk Details

Distance - 6 miles

Geocaches - 4

Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, April 2022, Walk 2

09/07/26 - Charmouth to Lyme Regis, for the Brewery Tap

Diversion but Destination Remains the Same

Today's route was downloaded from the Cicerone book "Walking the Jurassic Coast". The good thing about the Cicerone books is that they publish regular online updates. As you would expect - this area has a lot more updates than others. The most unstable cliffs in the country.

Leading a group walk for five, it was a good job I made a visual inspection from Charmouth beach of the short route to Lyme Regis. The cliffs are now terraces, collapsing in stages. The footpath that would have crossed Black Ven and the Spittles is no more.

The SWCP - which we eventually followed - has been routed further inland. It requires more road walking than we would like but there is a pavement. And annoying golfers at Lyme Regis Golf Club is always to be encouraged.

Off the road and into the woods, next to Lyme Regis Golf Course

Eventually, the SWCP crosses the fairways

There's a stretch of path that is labelled on the OS Map as the Wessex Ridgeway. On the ground, it also has roundels for the East Devon Way - for which this stretch is either the end or the beginning. It's a wonderful path that hugs the river Lim, right into town. Past the pretty houses and if you look carefully, you may see decent sized trout bobbing around in the more still parts.

The hidden River Lim path through town

It also leads to the town's best drinking spot. Lyme Regis Brewery Tap (the brewery is actually in Axminster now) is in a converted mill, right on the water. 

Last time I was here, it was a paddleboard of three thirds. One of our party wanted to repeat the experience with a paddleboard of pints - a bitter, a New England IPA and a South Coast IPA.

I'm taking the photo - can you guess the inventor of the "pint tester board"?

The walk back to Charmouth could have been along the beach - but not at high tide. I think that we were all glad that a) 2:50pm was high tide and b) the 2:53pm bus was bang on time. That on time, gentle jogging to the bus stop was required.

Walk Details

Distance - 3.25 miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration