26/08/26 - Pershore Bridges

Meddling Parents

Investigation required for the Part 3 of Travels with Pevsner. Jonathan Meades does a fine job of describing an impressive looking home, but fails to tell the viewer where it is. Thank the lord for Google Image Search, which informs me it is Wyke Manor, Wick.

Pevsner states;

This eminently picturesque large house just NW of the church is in fact entirely an evocation. It has all the motifs of genuine Worcestershire timber-framing and groups them suggestively, It was done in 1923 round a Georgian core.

1923 Wyke Manor, Wick

There's more to the story than Pevsner lets on. The house is privately owned by the Hudsons. During WWI, Aubrey Hudson wanted to marry a young local girl. His parents didn't approve and asked his CO to transfer him away. So they sent him to the front. He lasted two weeks. 

The house contains and is a shrine to him.

My chosen walk appeared in a recent Country Walking Magazine. A figure of 8 loop with the focus point at the Pershore Bridges Picnic area.

20th Century meets 15th Century

The first loop to the hamlet of Pensham. All agricultural fields in the shadow of Bredon Hill.

First half walking

Bredon Hill

Then into Wick, where there is more to discover than just the manor house. A signed, and notice-boarded History Trail tells you all about Viking raids up the Avon and how to build cruck houses.

Alas, the FYI Geocaches are lost

Walk Details

Distance - 6.5 miles

Geocaches - 2

Walk Inspiration - Travels with Pevsner and Country Walking Magazine, June 2026, Walk 9

30/07/26 - Lammas in Halesowen

Early Harvest

I may be two days early for Lammas, but the strange weather makes a mockery of the calendar. All the conditions for a pilgrimage walk seem to have fallen into place. The farmers are already bringing in the harvest, and I find an oak beneath which to eat my ham sandwich. I have neither loaf nor companions to complete the ritual as tradition prescribes.

August brings Lughnasadh (or Lammas), the ancient Celtic festival of the first harvest, celebrated on 1 August. Lammas, from the Old English hlaf-mæsse ("loaf mass"), marks the baking of bread from the new grain and giving thanks for the harvest. This is the time for bread baked from new grain, for gathering berries on hedgerow walks, for songs of John Barleycorn, the spirit of corn who must die so we might live.

Pilgrimage at Lughnasadh is earthy and practical, when you can bring a loaf, break it with your companions beneath an oak, and share it together.

Harvest Special

I'm in Halesowen with plenty of plans - a new Adventure Lab Cache, a local walk in Country Walking Magazine and a lunchtime visit to CAMRA's Cider Pub of the Year (Stourbridge and Halesowen Branch).

It's a walk I know reasonably well but there's always something new to discover.

The remains of Halesowen Abbey - built 1218

A new waymarked walking trail

I knew that Leasowes Park was a Dudley Geosite but the new trail, with fresh waymarker signs is a bit of a mystery. A Google search and the only reference is an upcoming Ramblers Walk that follows a route from Halesowen to Waseley Hill Visitor Centre. Considering the effort they have gone to on plotting the walk on the ground, they could do with a little more advertising on the route it takes. And saying it is Geotrail 1 suggests more Geotrails are coming. I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Perhaps the most intriguing feature of this walk are the remnants of the Halesowen Branch Line.

Old Hill to Longbridge

The map shows the course of the route from Old Hill to Longbridge, but offers no clues to the engineering feats involved in its construction. Fallen trees forced me into the woodland, where the surviving brick piers can still be found. These once supported a lattice ironwork viaduct that rose 100 feet above the valley floor and stretched for 700 feet. Built in 1883, it lasted just over 80 years before being dismantled in 1965. All that effort, but would it have passed today's health and safety tests? It looks rather delicate!

Reclaimed by nature

10 mph speed limit. Unsure if it ran when windy

The route - unusually for this summer, completed in rain - is back to town via Leasowes Park and the disused number 2 canal.

Post walk refreshment has to be Roberto's Bar. For daytime drinkers, this means arriving on a Thursday/Friday or Saturday - when it opens at midday. Come on a Sunday and it opens at 2pm, but selling the most extraordinary looking Bloody Mary's - made in a vat and sold until gone.

You know what day it is! Don't miss out! I'm away next Sunday so you'll have to get your fix today! Cheers! pic.twitter.com/pTiaTVqXcA

— Roberto's Bar - Halesowen (@RobertosBarHale) July 26, 2026

No "Breakfast of Champions" on this Thursday afternoon but the electronic menu does demand some attention. Two pages of ciders were expected. About a dozen different meads wasn't. But there was only one choice for me. Not often I see the laughing abbot on draught.

Straffe Hendrick Quad chaser also available

Walk Details

Distance - 8 miles

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, April 2026, Walk 12

Geocaches - 10

Previous Celtic Pilgrimages - Imbloc, Spring Equinox, Beltane, Summer Solstice, Lammas

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

12/06/26 - On the Trail of..... Penda's Fen

Play for Today

Always on the lookout for new walking inspiration, I was intrigued when The Dispatch newspaper drew my attention to Penda's Fen. Alan Clarke's 1974 Play for Today—the same director who later made Scum and The Firm—is remarkable for more than just its storyline. In less than ninety minutes it tackles Christianity and paganism, sexuality, nuclear annihilation, working-class identity and the nature of England itself. The hyperlink provides a summary of the plot and its ongoing impact quite nicely.

More extraordinary still, it was broadcast on BBC1 at 9.30pm. At a time when there were only three television channels, the British public effectively had a choice: watch Penda's Fen or go to bed early.

Penda was the seventh-century Mercian ruler remembered as England's last great pagan king. The drama is set in Pinvin, near Pershore - a village whose name in Old English is Penda's Fen - although filming took place in Chaceley, across the River Severn from Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire.

The only walk I have in the area is from an old Country Walking Magazine. This, and some internet-based sleuthing to determine filming locations and a day out for exercise, followed the previous day on the sofa watching the DVD.

I start in the nearby village of Forthampton. In the play, The Vicar visits a parishioner on his death-bed to perform the last rites. I have my first location - an external shot of an impressive house opposite the church.

The last rites were shunned - the dying man happy that he had lived his life on earth

Forthampton Church is "doors open" and I am distracted before taking a step.

Forthampton Church

A Saxon Devil's Head above the front door - Other treasures include a rare stone altar and medieval pews

I'm off and away. The play's eeriness matched by an unchanged for centuries agricultural landscape, with many ancient dead and dying oaks hosting roosting corvids, which take cacophonous flight as I disturb them on approach. I am aiming for the weir at Upper Lode, with constant views of Tewkesbury Abbey on the opposite side of the River Severn.

Dead oaks and Tewkesbury Abbey in the far distance

The weir at Upper Lode

A long stretch of riverside walking passing a couple of pubs. I am too early for the Lower Lode Hotel and Yew Tree Inn, which marks the return inland. A road leads to Chaceley, the site of many of the filming locations.

The main characters family home at the Old Vicarage

The home of the TV scriptwriter

Chaceley Church features prominently - the main protagonist plays the organ there and during his crisis of faith, has a vision when the floor cracks and a voice is heard imploring "free me". It's "doors open" - with a sign saying to close the door behind otherwise birds will get in. There are already three ravens inside.

Chaceley Church

Church Organ

Another devil's head - in the keystone of the arch

Green lanes take me back to Forthhampton. I've been too early for the pubs found on route and nothing is to be found here. A remote good beer guide tick is available at the Railway Inn, Ripple. A 15-minute drive away.

Walk Details

Distance - 8 miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration - The Dispatch Newspaper and Country Walking Magazine, January 1995 Walk 12

24/05/26 - Kingston, Near Lewes

No Juggs for us

The heatwave is not abating. Social media is full of people berating irresponsible dog walkers. How would you like to walk barefoot on hot coals? In a fur coat?

So through common sense, rather than worrying about being a social pariah, we are up very early and out on the trail before the midday sun. Good news for the dogs, bad news for the drinkers. I pass two pubs, where my contribution to pubsgalore.co.uk will be uploading photographs.

At least the walk is a beauty.... a climb of Swanborough Hill to retrace forgotten steps on the South Downs Way before dropping down to Rodmell for the return walk in the hill's shadow.

Work completed - Swanborough Hill Climbed, Kingston Below

Back on the South Downs Way - Pre Breakfast

House hunting in Rodmell

A gorgeous walk - now let's look at what we could have won.  Rodmell has the inappropriately named Abergavenny Arms - used as a water stop. We admired the steaks from £13 A Frame Board, but with the broken glass in the front door, wondered whether this might be advertising from a bygone age.

More intriguing was The Juggs, such a great name for a pub and incredibly, unique in the country.

Let's not get too upset at missing out. 

Shepherd's Neame.

C15th, half tiled and I hear the only cask is Sussex Best

Walk Details

Distance - 6.5 miles

Geocaches - 3

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, February 2008, Walk 4 

18/05/26 - More on the South Staffordshire Railway Walk

The End of Easter

With this walk, I have more or less completed the South Staffordshire Railway. A previous outing conquered the northern half. A very similar walk today completes the southern half.

Starting at a car park where Himley Station used to live, it's obvious the all-terrain path has had some recent work. There are less pot-holes here than on the roads driven to get here.

Easy walking, easy routefinding

For future reference - the café and another car park are at Bratch Lane, where I leave the railway to pick up the Staffordshire-Worcestershire canal. Towpath walking to Awbridge - which may or may not have been designed by James Brindley. 

Awbridge

Whilst on a historical bent, this is my first walk testing out the Hiiker App. It has a function to show your position on a C19th OS map. Today's route passing through the grounds of both a hospital for infectious diseases and a Victorian Workhouse.

Another feature? - an overlay of "live pubs!"

A Trysull revisit - too early for The Bell, but the church is "doors open". Despite it's age - parts of it 1000 years old - there's not too much of interest. The relatively modern stained glass windows and a C13th font compete with human activity for things to investigate. It is the last day of Easter, moving into Pentecost and the altar vestments were being changed from white to red. The things you learn when the pubs are shut.

Dropping down to Trysull

All Saints, Trysull

Countryside providing access to the Canal at the Round Oak, exiting it Botterham Lane, for a return to the car park.

Walk Details

Distance - 7.5 miles

Geocaches - 4

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, March 2025, Walk 13

05/04/26 - The Tipsey Toad, Bromyard

Avenbury Hauntings

The approach into Bromyard brings on PTSD. Over five years since my last visit. You can guess what was going on then. Lockdown #3. I got to look at the handsome black and white timbered pubs but none were open to investigate. 

Nice to look back at the blog. I made do with a delicatessen ram raid and a Baggies victory at the Molineux. Maybe lockdowns weren't so bad. Trump probably ensuring they are coming back in one form or another.

Today's visit was inspired by the Mysteries of Mercia. A book that I need to order at some point, but Hugh, the author, teases with frequent FaceBook posts. Last week, he discussed the ruined church at the abandoned village of Avenbury.

A mooch around the town centre, solving Adventure Lab Caches and looking for post-walk refreshment options and then we are out into the Herefordshire Countryside.

I took an identical picture 5 years ago

There's a couple of walkers ahead of us. When they stop for coffee we learn that they are working the Herefordshire Trail as a series of day walks. Their wives helping with the logistics by dropping them off/picking them up as required. Mrs M gives me the look to say "don't get any ideas". 

When I get a spare five minutes, I will look into public transport availability.

I demand more of the Herefordshire Trail

Through agricultural land, including hop growing trellises before we find the River Frome. Following the banks until we reach Avenbury and its sinister ruins.

Ruins

It's not the ghosts that you need to worry about. The comments on the FaceBook post talked of people living in the churchyard in a makeshift camp. Battling my way through the undergrowth, I found evidence of the camp - loads of rubbish, tarpaulin and a huge water tank. A darting squirrel is the only sign of life, but enough to get the heartbeat raised.

Onwards to Bromyard Downs - always a fine place to walk - before the land attached to Buckenhill Manor.

Views from the Bromyard Downs

Perfect paths through Buckenhill Manor

Lockdown had me jealous for the pubs I could have visited last time. But how many of them remain actually open? A terraced boozer called the Railway (tied house to Johnson's?) looks in perfect condition, but is doors firmly shut. Bizarrely, it closed in the 1970s but has been perfectly preserved.

Residential Use now - wonder how many thirsty people look through the windows.

Other disasters? The Hop Pole looks in danger or matched the Avenbury Church in the ruins stakes. The King's Arms in the high street crying out to be rescued. I'll stop there before I get too maudlin.

The Falcon was a strong contender for the Mappiman dollar but in the end, we chose the newest of micros - the Tipsey Toad. A shop conversion next-door to the dead King's Arms - an actual pub. Maybe it costs less to heat.

A fine example of the micropub blueprint, with friendly locals/staff and a comfortably snug experience split over two floors. The slightly underwhelming and obvious choice of HPA or Butty forgiven, as they shared out the mini Easter eggs.

Mrs M already celebrating the "Bischoff with Coffee" win

Walk Details

Distance - 8.75 Miles 

Geocaches - 13

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, April 2016, Walk 8

02/04/26 - Harvington Hall

Ancient Country Walking Magazine

My oldest Country Walking Magazine is not February 1991 but it's not far off. All footpaths are exactly as described 34 years ago and Harvington Hall is as timeless as ever.

Harvington Hall

The location is very popular with the Ramblers and I have explored/blogged this area extensively. Familiar paths through Hillpool and Drayton but there is something new.

To the south of Drayton is Barrow Hill Tumulus - described as an ancient Celtic burial site. This website has details and also looks like a useful resource for future inspiration. Nice mapping of everything ancient. Which leads to a book available on Google Books - will I ever have time to read the Ancient Antiquities and Folklore of Worcestershire? At nearly 200 years old, it's an antiquity in itself.  

The barrow is huge, tree-covered but on private ground. I get occasional glimpses through the trees but cannot get a photo to do it justice. I can always lift one from the Internet.

Farmers disrespecting ancient monuments

Hidden in the trees

What I thought would be a regular, familiar walk has opened up yet more ideas. 

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine - Feb 1991, Walk 14