Distance - 9.5 Miles
Inspiration - Julie Royle's Worcestershire Walks (I know its in Gloucestershire!)
Caches - 100%. There was one on the trail.
Bank Holiday, so it was bound to rain. Checked out the forecasts and its due to start at 10am, so if I set the alarm for the same time as Saturday, I should get round this 10 miler without a soaking.
The early start confuses the dog, who doesn't even attempt to hide. Even though this breaks my daughter's imposed 8 mile limit, I am lonely. So she is coming. End of.
Drive down in 42 minutes and park up by the church. Head down to the river for the first stretch of this walk and realise that I could have communted down by nicking a boat from my home town.
Nice Stretch of the Severn - Weir
The walking is all fields. Grass. Wheat. Wheat. Sheep. Wheat. Bull.
Our first sign of danger is when we meet this fellow on a narrow stretch of the path at Ashleworth Quay.
Eyes Right
Despite a bellow, he lets us over his style. We reach the pub and then turn inland past the impressive Tithe Barn. Built in 1481, Its the size and staure of a cathedral.
Probably the best barn on the route
Julie takes us on a bit of detour around the southern slopes of Barrow Hill. Probably wants me to meet the other bulls in this field. These do get a bit frisky and start following us down hill. A shout of "Getoutofit!!" enables us to make safety.
Then through the village. They like a lie in on their bank hols, there isn't a soul around.
Centre of Ashleworth
But we do have a sneaking feeling that we are being watched. And then soon enough, our tail reveals himself as a friendly hound.
Let the wooing commence
Not wanting to end up with any scoobiedoodles, I break off the courtship and he scampers off to whence he came.
We continue through the village, taking the no through road to Longridge and climbing the bank at the footpath. Great views over the vale of Gloucester and we can see the rain sweeping in like a sandstorm. Halfway up, we get the only cache of the day.
The cache - its not always about the numbers
Reach the ridge top on Over Old Road and have a strange detour around Woolridge. I wouldn't have bothered with the detour, as it seemed unnecessary to the walk but I thought I would check out the big blue cup of joy on the map. Even if it was 9am. Never actually found the pub anyway, but I am sure it is there.
Do they do Moobs on the NHS?
Some really excellent walking downhill (always a favourite) through wheat and sheep fields. There are great views of Gloucester ahead. The aforementioned rain closes in and I have to take 5 mins to get the waterproof. Whilst this is happening, we are stealthily approached by the gang of four.
On the lookout
Back at Maisemore and we skirt the court and get a closer look at the church.
Return to the car at 10:10am and we have the rest of the day to ourselves. What else can you do on a rainy bank holiday?
I'll check the map for a closer big blue cup of joy.
Fear and panic, the like of which has not been seen since millenium bug debacle, has closed London for business during the Olympics. This means that my opportunities of continuing this epic journey whilst staying down for business have been curtailed by an event that has had people cheering for sports they don't even know the rules to. At least the ceremonies were good. Apart from Muse.
So to meet my plans of completing 5 stages per BST year, I head down to London on a Saturday, making the most of my time there and completing two stages in one day.
Bargain tickets can be booked, provided you don't mind an early start and I am on the 7am from Birmingham International. As soon as I leave the station, I am up at the shop for a wake me up cup of coffee. The bloke behind is buying a can of Stella. It truly is compulsory to drink on a train, regardless of the time.
And he is not the only one. Two Polish fellas get on at Rugby and noisily get stuck into jumbo bottles of Heineken. They then annoy the carriage by playing Belgian trance music dead loud and shouting at each other. I am googling the Polish for "Excuse me gents, but could you keep it down" when the ticket inspector comes.
It would appear as they have only London Midland Tickets... invalid for a Virgin Train.
There is probably a German word for the descent of silence that hits a carriage when its apparent that an almighty row is going to break out between angry commuters and an officious inspector. Great entertainment and after they had paid their £47 each fines, they were less inclined to rock out to technotronic.
I arrive at Euston, having gone through South Kenton Station, needing to get a chug-a-long back up the line.
Saturday - Early - Consfused
This train is full of sweary northerners who are down for the Rugby between Leeds and Warrington. Come back my jiggy poles, all is forgiven.
Arrive at 9am and have a walk through houses and Preston Park. Stop to pick up a bacon sarnie at Preston Road tube station and eat it walking down the street, climbing the hill in the first bit of countryside at Barn Hill.
From certain angles, I am ace at hide and seek
Get to the top and I am rewarded with an unexpected trig point and great views over the home of our profane egg chasers.
Take a small detour to get the first cache of the day and am rewarded with a TB. Drop mine off in its place. Then its out into Fryent Country Park. For the first time on this extended walk, the green signs let me down and I take a circuitous route to the top of the hill.
A small amount of road walking and I am on the eastern shore of Brent Reservoir. Nice walking and manage to get a micro cache inbetween the muggle dog walkers.
Waterside
Cross the M1 and I have some lengthy road walking in the Jewish part of London. The Synagogue is marked on the map, and because it is Sabbath, everyone is on their way there.
Despite a decent enough stretch down by a stream and through the nice houses of Hampstead Garden Suburb, this is dull walking. I've also been at it for three hours and the 2 litres of rubbery tasting water from the camelpak is not as good as a nice pint.
HGS is lovely, but seems to be a dry village. I even have a look up the main streets, but can only find furniture shops. Then, like a mirage, the White Lion appears around the corner from East Finchley Station.
Despite the shoulder tube, I am dryer than Ghandi's flip flop
Suitably refreshed, I am off again, getting two caches and hitting the superior walking of Highgate and Queens Woods. Exceptional walking area and I am just getting the final cache of the day when the forecasted storm starts off. Oh well, the trees offer some cover and to be fair, it was meant to be like this all the way around.
Before the Rain
At 2pm, the walk is comes to an end at Highgate Tube station. I am starving and decide to scale the heights to see if there is a pub close by. Even better than that, there's one at the top and its got the football on. The menu offers a chop. Lord Lucan only ever ate chops and if its good enough for him, then its good enough for me.
So, after two years and assuming I don't get the sunlight to do another stage, I am 11/15 of the way through. Back in 2013.
Sonia needs to work in Alcester today.... asking tourists what they think of the town. I offer to do my walk from here, leaving the dog behind as it breaks the 6 mile rule of what she is now capable of.
Park up for free in Bleachfield Street after a 40 minute journey. We get the last parking space and then look for the machine to pay. There isn't one... no wonder the car park is so full. Just to check, I ask the fella who is painting the roof of his camper van and he says "Yes, its free", I reply with a "how unusual" and he responds with a "Weclome to Alcester".
Leave Sonia to her work and head out on the Monarch's Way up Seggs Lane. This long distance path has been a companion on the last 3 or so walks, from the bottom of Gloucestershire into Shropshire. Either this country is too small or the Monarch in question had one hell of an escape.
The lane towards the A435 is quiet but despite the signs, a fella walking his dog on a motorised scooter (fella, not the dog) allows his animal to poop without the scoop.
Molly unwelcome, even if we are good dog citizens
As I get to the trunk road, I pass a gardener who is singing a lovely song about a girl who "wears red feathers and a huly-huly skirt". What a jolly fella.
Thoughts of his serenading keep me going as I fail dismally to get the first cache of the day. The previous fella didn't find it either, so I don't feel so bad. Eventually muggled by a couple of dog walkers and move on.
Nice walking through Cold Comfort Woods and I do find the second cache of the day (thanks Delta68).
Its all gently uphill into Cladswell, which is a collection of houses and a church. There is a mystery cache here, but I had a look last night and it all looked rather complicated, so I give it a miss.
Vista opens up for nice views and our first real photo opp.
Forgot my hat
Work my way south to Knighton. The quality of the paths is dreadful, overgrown again with stingers and then sometimes completely boggy. My new Italian mountain boots are not designed for this amount of gloop. At this point of the walk, I admit that I am not massively impressed.
Get to Knighton and its the end of the overgrown paths, although the boggy ones are still prevalent. The cache density increases massively and I bag another four before Morton Spirit Farm. I admit to being impressed by their warning sign.
He doesn't look all that
The next field contains bulls, so I hoike myself over the fence and give them a wide birth. One of them is only a baby and the daddy just lies there, looking hard with his piercings.
The walk improves dramatically. Climb through Weethley Woods and then emerge into a wheat field with a great path through the middle. Disturb two deer - but don't get the camera out in time.
Nice walk up to Church Farm and emerge at the interesting buildings. The antithesis of Huly-Huly boy is tending his garden - he meets my hello with a grunt. Both ends of the gardening spectrum are on display today.
Once crossing the road, I am rewarded with some OMG views, which take my mind of the fact that not all the cows are with udders. Some have nose rings and something else on their undercarriages.
Matador Pose
Another couple of good caches on the way down, one with a completely clean log book. Will need to check if I am a FTF.
Its then a straightforward return to the town. See Sonia bothering strangers and we head off to take advantage of the Turks Head "exceptional garden". My emergency tenner stretches to a couple of pints but it looked touch and go for a baguette.
A walk of two halves from a lovely town. Enjoyed the drive home, listening to the opening game of the premiership - the first time that the Baggies have managed a win on this day.
Been a while since I have completed a larger cache trail and need to get the August numbers up. At Xmas time, I did a round from Shifnal and knew there were other trails in the area.... and a recent publishing of 50 caches in Telford had me looking at this area.... I'll save this one for another day.
Head off at 8am and park up in the centre of Kemberton, near the church. The OS map has a footpath through the houses but I can't find it on the ground and start the day by walking up and down the street.... Not a great start, if I can't even find the paths! Eventually find another way around and pick up the first cache of the day in a newly trimmed hay field. There are 5 or 6 caches not on the trail that can be found before the first one at Kemberton Mill.
Not yet on the trail
Despite the first one of the round being huge, I still manage a DNF.... doubly annoying as its the only one on the route that has a trackable in it. There's too many caches to blog about but there is a huge variety of containers and sizes.... lots of work but in by nozi parkerz & younggunz:-), so thanks for that. I have no idea where you would have got hold of the recepticle for my particular favourite....
It is Brucie, isn't it?
Enjoy the walk down Wesley Brook... great paths and I have it absolutely to myself. The area reminds by of Rindleford near Bridgnorth, where you follow water to hidden houses and hamlets.
From Grindleforge, we take a permissive path that isn't marked on the map. This is great walking that I would never had of found if it wasn't for caching.
Grindle Forge
Soon come into Ryton. Lots of big houses, a church but alas, no pub. I won't be moving there anytime soon.
Start heading back north along another great bridleway. As per every other walk that I have completed this summer, the heavens open again. Get a royal soaking and the appeal of diving into bushes and getting water dripping down your neck starts to have me losing the appeal of caching. The flies and stingers aren't helping much either.
Crossing back over the Hinnington Road, I disturb two motorcyclist that have stopped for an impromptu toilet break. Makes a change for me to muggle someone else. Wouldn't mind, but this was at another GZ but decide not to look for this one.
Then its all roads back through Evelith, stopping caching when I reach the final one, number 35, even though there are some that are on the start of a new trail.
There is a rule for calculating walking time - which is three miles per hour, with 1 minute for every 10 mins of ascent and 1 minute for every 20 metres of descent. I think I am going to add caching into this formula, as I have been out for 4 hours and 8 mins for a 7.5 mile walk, missing the start if the traditional curtain raiser for the new football season!
