26/09/26 - Abberley, St Michaels

Autumn Equinox and Michaelmas

Two dates very close to each other on the Pilgrimage calendar.

The Autumn Equinox marks the point when day and night are approximately equal, a moment of balance before the long slide towards winter. It sits neatly alongside Michaelmas, celebrated on 29 September in honour of St Michael the Archangel, traditionally seen as a protector and a figure of strength and courage. Michaelmas was one of the four quarter days of the English year, marking the end of the agricultural year and the beginning of a new one. For an Autumn Equinox pilgrimage, the two traditions make a useful pairing: walk through woodland, fields, orchards and old lanes, looking for the signs of harvest and the changing season, before finishing at a St Michael's Church if there is one nearby. The walk becomes a small journey from the balance of the Equinox towards Michaelmas, combining the seasonal landscape with the Christian tradition of the archangel whose feast marks this turning point.

I know just the church - The Norman St Michael's in Abberley - fallen into ruin in the 1850s, with just the chancel and chapel remaining. A proper explore to be had, before the walk gets going.

Gillet on, marking the transition to winter

Flying buttress failing to save the church

Doors Open...

The last feast, cracked

The walk is straightforward and for large parts, on the Worcestershire Way - woodland up onto Abberley Hill, where the occasional (wonderful) view appears through the trees.

Woodbury Hill, from Abberley

Just to round off the day  - lunch at the Manor Arms. Over 300 years old and the building has doubled up as the local court. Over the years, we have seen it come and go - from a village local to its current guise as a posh gastro pub with rooms.

At least it's open.

The parking needs to be paid for.

Walk Details

Distance - 4 miles

Geocaches - 2

Walk Inspiration - Adventurous Pub Walks in Worcestershire - Walk 

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

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

03/07/26 - The Old Royal Library, Malvern

Late, for the Summer Solstice 

This was meant to be walked on 21st June. It was also meant to be walked at sunset. I was meant to light a fire. My first excuse is that I have been busy on the coastal walking. My second excuse is that we have the 1am England Mexico game this weekend. I am not staying/getting up late twice in succession. My third excuse, I would be shot for lighting fires in the tinderbox heatwave we are experiencing.

Summer Solstice: The Longest Day

June brings the great pivot of the year: the Summer Solstice, when the sun seems to pause at its zenith before beginning its slow decline.

It's a festival of fire and light, of fullness and ripeness, of standing still in the very height of things.

Pilgrimage at midsummer has always been drawn to the great circles of Stonehenge, Avebury and Callanish, where sunrise aligns with ancient stones in a drama that has played for millennia. And, of course, in a more contemporary way, Glastonbury Festival, always occurring around Midsummer's Day.

But it can be as simple as walking to the highest hill near you, lighting a small fire, and watching the sun dip late before rising early once again.

For my highest hill, I have picked the County Top of Worcestershire - the Beacon. 

A short but beautiful walk that I know well. Up the 99 steps to St Annes Well, yomp along the spine of the Malverns and then work my way back to town along the western side of the hills. Four locations of an Adventure Lab Cache telling the history of the working donkeys of Malvern, adding to the entertainment.

St Annes Well

Traditional Caching, with views

The Toposcope

Trig Point Bagging

To finish a perfect day, Black Country Ales have opened a new pub, the Old Royal Library. Directly opposite the Unicorn, which has subsequently closed down. The two things may be related, but the Unicorn has survived years opposite a much cheaper (and grander) Wetherspoons. They were used to competition.

New Pub in Town - The Old Royal Library

Everything one would expect from a BCA - the usual decor, cobs, bewildering range of unknown breweries and real cider/perry.

Walk Details

Distance - 5 miles

Walk Inspiration - Julie Royle's Worcestershire Walks Book 2

Geocaches - 6

Previous Celtic Pilgrimages - Imbloc, Spring Equinox, Belatne

30/04/26 - Beating the Bounds for Beltane

One Day Early 

Beltane, May Day and Rogationtide: Blessing the Bounds

Come May, there are maypoles, May Kings and Queens, Jacks in the Green and Obby Osses. Less known is the fact that the Church long ago instituted Rogation Days, when villagers would “beat the bounds” of their parish, walking in procession to the edges of their land and praying for its fertility. It was part ritual, part communal memory, part good excuse for a walk.

At the British Pilgrimage Trust, we revived this tradition with our Rogation Sunday campaign. It remains a wonderful excuse to make pilgrimage entirely local: simply walk the perimeter of where you live. You may be surprised how boundary lines trace forgotten footpaths, streams and hedgerows, linking the whole parish and creating belonging.

May 1st marks the day of my next pilgrimage walk for Beltane. Finding a walk that follows a parish boundary is relatively easy. The Ramblers promote several and I liked the look of Walk 26, in Powick.

So where are the rest in the series? I set ChatGPT on the case and it has found 9. I now have another tick list to complete, all tidied into a nice table for me. Thanks AI.

The walk was a beauty, if not a little lacking in thrills. Agricultural landscapes near the River Teme to Bransford Bridge. Through Rushwick village and the Civil War battlefields of Powick. The closure of the ancient bridge still causing navigational headaches. Only two years to repair flood damage, Worcester Council, and then you can start on the potholes.

Along the Teme

Distant views to Malvern Hills

Powick Battlefields

Pubs were passed but none open. Especially disappointing, the Red Lion at Powick. A 3pm midweek opener. 

At least the bus back to Worcester was on time and money was saved at Timbo's the Crown.

Walk Details

Distance - 10 Miles

Walk Inspiration - The Ramblers

Geocaches - 5

Previous Celtic Pilgrimages - Imbloc, Spring Equinox

25/03/26 - The Bellman's Cross, Shatterford

Spring Equinox, Slightly Delayed

My calendar had the 20th March marked for a pilgrimage walk to celebrate the spring equinox.

By March, light and dark are equal. The Spring Equinox is about a poised tipping-point. Pilgrimage at this time can mirror that balance, walking between two equal poles, whether literally (two hills, two villages) or inwardly, between past and future.

I have plenty of linear walks lined up, so with the March days escaping me it's time to combine hobbies. This route from the latest Country Walking Magazine runs between Kidderminster and the hamlet of Shatterford. Home of the most famous Black Country musician. Led Zeppelin have a number of local locations that I can also use for walking inspiration.

As if by design, my walk ends at Robert Plant's local. When there is a two-hour lunchtime gap between buses. Perfect, but I am getting ahead of myself.

The Wolverhampton canal takes me from Kidderminster and into Wolverley. Home to a hilltop church, two pubs and a nice café.

Leaving Kiddy

Potential Pub #1 - The Lock

Wolverley Church on the Hill

Potential Pub #2 - The Queen's Head

Some unfortunate, albeit quiet lane walking before arriving at Drakelow - underfoot are the remains of a WWII munitions factory and a Cold War bunker. Some ruined buildings on the ridge, but through the trees makes for pointless photographs.

A climb to Castle Hill - where AI fails to provide much in the way of history - before a change of terrain to walk through the outer reaches of the Wyre Forest at Shatterford/Arley Woods.

View from Castle Hill

Shatterford Woods on the ground, Arley Woods on the OS Map

Which brings us to the end and a 90 minute celebration until the 297 bus.

The Bellman's Cross is hosted in a row of terraced cottages. It's a shared location with a restaurant called Dominique's. French A La Carte but with gyros Wednesdays. 

Pub / Restaurant

For a fine dining location, the prices aren't too bad. My gauge - through jealousy at what I cannot afford - is steak. It's £5 cheaper than my local in the Lake District last weekend. This "keen" pricing is reflected in the beer prices. £4.50 for a Bathams, Three Tuns or Enville Ale is acceptable.

All my friends are here

If you go to any of the pubs serving Bathams in Worcestershire enough times, you will eventually stumble upon Mr Plant. So far, I have found him at the bar of Kidderminster's King and Castle and in the beer garden of Bewdley's Waggon and Horses. I like that. A mega-star who is down to earth enough that Bathams in a community pub is a good night out.

Today, I have evidence but no sighting.

With Dominique. And others.

Walk Details

Distance - 7.75 Miles 

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, Feb 2026, Walk 15

Previous Celtic Pilgrimages - Imbloc

02/02/26 - St Brides Day - Halesowen to Hagley

The Imbolc Pilgrimage

A wonderful article in the December 2025 Idler magazine promoted walking pilgrimages based on ancient festivals throughout the year.

February 1st sees St Bride's Day and Imbolc;

Imbolc, celebrated around 1 February, marks the quiet turning point between winter and spring. Rooted in early Irish tradition and later associated with St Brigid (or St Bride), it is a festival of renewal, light, and potential rather than arrival or abundance. Traditionally linked to lambing, fresh milk, and the lengthening days, Imbolc focuses on what is beginning to stir beneath the surface: the cleaning of hearths, the lighting of fires, and visits to sacred wells. It is a threshold moment in the year, attentive to small signs of change, when survival gives way—cautiously—to hope.

The suggested itinerary for an Imbolc inspired walk: to find a holy well.

I'd already thought of St Kenelm's Well in Clent when the monthly Walk West Midlands newsletter arrived in my inbox. Everything is connected - their feature walk is a linear route from Halesowen to Hagley. The only decision to be made is which direction to travel. Roberto's Bar for interesting world beers or the King Arthur for Bathams. Start-of-the-week opening hours make the choice for me. 

I alight the 192 bus in West Halesowen, practically on the Clent foothills. A muddy climb leads up to St Kenelm's Church and well.

St Kenelm's Well

According to legend, St Kenelm, a 9th-century Mercian prince, was murdered as a child on the Clent Hills, and when his hidden body was discovered a spring burst from the ground, now known as St Kenelm’s Well. This well is traditionally regarded as one of the sources of the River Stour, which rises from several springs on the Clent Hills before flowing south-west through the Black Country and into Worcestershire. The story of Kenelm’s death and translation is commemorated today by St Kenelm’s Way, a long-distance walking route that traces the legendary journey of his body from the hills near Romsley to his shrine at Winchcombe Abbey, linking landscape, water, and story into a single, enduring sacred geography.

 The well is met first.... a trickle of water falling into a bricked conduit. I am not the only one "celebrating" Imbolc. The nearby bushes are decorated with hung fabrics and at the source of the water, a St Bride's cross fashioned out of reed.

Located to the north east of the church - downhill

St Bride's Cross at the Well

The small church is "doors open" and demands exploration. An ancient semi-circular tympanum above the door representing "Christ in Majesty". Inside, a more modern wooden carved screen denoting the last supper.

Two raised fingers - Christ divine and mortal

Judas carrying the purse - John resting on Jesus' shoulder. Peter, unusually for the Last Supper with keys

The Walk Midlands route creator likes road walking. At least I am out of the mud. A drop down St Kenelm's Pass and then across to the main Clent village. The decision on whether to turn this into a pub crawl is taken out of my hands. Too early for the Vine. The newly reopened Fountain doesn't open on a Monday. And the Lyttelton Arms is only for first dates.

As planned - it's a quick Bathams at the King Arthur - timed to perfection with 40 minutes until the return 192 bus. Busy with pensioners and eaters of cobs and pork pies.

Hagley High Street

Happy Mondays - it's Bathams

Walk Details

Diatance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - 3

Walk Inspiration

17/07/24 - Upton-Upon-Severn to Worcester Pilgrimage

Looking for German Beer

Has it really been four years since my last Pilgrimage? The British Pilgrim Trust provide a wonderful walking resource. Many Long Distance Paths but also a series of day walks. This is my second, running from Upton, mainly along the Severn Way Path and ending at Worcester. 

There's always something in the way at Upton. Last year we made the mistake of traumatising a Guide Dog Puppy on May Day. She didn't take kindly to the Folk Festival. Especially the spontaneous outbreaks of Morris Dancing.

As I pick up the river path, I think I am in trouble again.The barriers are up for the Blues festival early arrivals, with the event taking place on the flood plain that I need to walk. 

One of the many pubs in Upton

There is gap in the fence and I march on through. Later in the week, I am told that it is a free event anyway, so I may have been worrying unnecessarily about access restrictions.

There are two villages along the route.  First, Severn Stoke - with a war memorial and a classic country pub, the Rose and Crown.

Pub and Church, but 10am is too early

Summer is here.

And then Kempsey, where only the Western extremities are walked, bypassing possible pubby refreshment. The churchyard makes for a fine resting point.

A row of headstones framing the path to the river.

Now onto the moaning.... most of the Severn Way is like this.

Perfect, tranquil walking on lush grass

However, the stretch to the North of Kempsey - where the farmer has fenced off the path - hosts 5ft stingers and is simply impassable. Disappointing that a long distance trail can be such bad condition. I may well write a strongly worded letter to the lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen. My legs still have the not totally unpleasant post-stung ticklely feeling two days later.

English Civil War battlefield viewpoints and information boards digested and the water bottle is running out. It's a relief to hit Worcester civilisation.

Heading into town at Diglis

My last Worcester Pilgrimage resulted in Belgian Beer at Tripel Bs. For variety and to demonstrate my cosmopolitan credentials, its German Helles Lager I am looking for. 

And I know just the place.

Hoplords is a tiny bottle-shop in the City Centre. But what a resource.... Fridge after fridge of liquid delight and always a good collection of keg. There were two other strong contenders for the Mappiman Dollar (Kernal and Deya) but its not every day you find Tegernseer Spezial on draught.

Talk about hitting the spot.

Glass is close enough.

I'm filing today under "Successful".

Walk Details

Distance - 11.5 Miles

Geocaches - 2

Walk Inspiration

24/10/20 - Pilgrimage to Tripel B's, Worcester

Distance - 10.5 Miles

Start - Walk Inspiration

Geocaches - 2

Maybe the British Pilgrimage Trust (BPT) had different destinations in mind, but I can't help but feel that I have stumbled on a fantastic new walking resource.

As well as some fantastic multi day, long distance paths - they have a series of day pilgrimages to British Cathedrals.  Worcester has four to attempt, a lengthy 21 miler from Evesham to more sedates ones from Droitwich, Malvern and Upton on Severn.

And you can take your pick on the where to arrive. The BPT will try and seduce you with glorious interior shots of a building started in 1084 or I can offer you a little piece of the Continent, in a time when you have to use your imagination if you want to travel.

The walk itself is a little monotonous. Its 50% walking along the Droitwich Canal, 50% along the River Severn and 100% easy to navigate.

Droitwich Canal in Autumn

Salwarpe Church for a Multi Stage Geocache

New Fish Filter Lane at Bevere Weir

Rains come in - as one of the Prizes is in Sight.

Of course, if you haven't been to the Cathedral - you should visit at least once. But with the rain driving in, I seek refuge in Copenhagen Street and one of the newer Micros Pubs on the Worcester Scene - Tripel Bs.

A little piece of Belgium in Worcester

This wonderful oasis of calm opened on in 2009 - promising an authentic and laid back cafe culture experience that I think Tony Blair was after when the potential for 24hr drinking was introduced.

This is my third visit and first since the crisis. I was delighted to see it thriving and long may it continue.  Its going to take me many visits to make a dent on the extensive menu of draft Vedetts and Duvals and 100s of bottled beers. The mind boggles at how much glassware they must carry - as each is served in the correct ceremonial chalice.

And a third menu takes you to a food menu with Belgian delicacies, which includes a cone of frites with home made mayo. I needed something to absorb my first ever Straffe Hendrick bottle, after a draft Duvel.

Behold, a composite image of beer beauty

On being dropped off at Droitwich Station - Mrs M asked my why I needed to take my big rucksack on a day walk.  I set off walking with "you better not be buying more beer" ringing in my ears.

She better not go looking on top of the garage fridge.