13/02/21 - Winter Conditions on the Lickey Hills

Distance - 3 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration

A lockdown drive to the furthest reaches of Worcestershire.  Mrs M is nervous.  She needs to stop following Wyre Forest Police Tweets for further evidence of road blocks.  Frankly, Wyre Forest Police need to stop tweeting.  Its doing nothing for anyone's health and temper when you feel a criminal for a 25 minute drive to a wonderful walking location.

A spacious car park awaits on Monument Lane.  The eponymous Monument never fails to make me laugh.  My first serious walk was from here, and the guide book photo of the castle looking Arthurian in its magnificence was the main reason for choosing it.  In reality, we've seen bigger forts in posh kids' back gardens.

The Monument

You cannot take away the views.  Birmingham, in all it city (remember them?) glory below.  Last night's King Rocker Documentary on the Nightingales has me yearning for a pilgrimage to the site Barabarella's.  I want to know what Thornbridge's new venture at the Colmore Tap is like.   The bottle menu at the Post Office Vaults is sorely missed.  

All pleasures that remain for another day.

Today's pleasures are not inconsiderate.  Some lovely walking through the woods on the North Worcestershire Path, dogs for Guide Dog in Training Abi to frolic with and coffee and sausage sandwiches at the visitors centre,  perfectly placed half way along.

Through the Woods on the North Worcestershire Way

Even the conditions were exciting.  Mud frozen solid and frozen streams of ice along the paths.  Here's what happens when you try to take a low down arty shot whilst walking with a Golden.

Photobomber!

And the Icy, Arty Shot I was after

06/02/21 - Monkwood and the Severn Way through Holt and Grimley

Distance - 8 Miles

Geocaches - 6

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, Sep 2014, Walk 9

Still keeping within 10 miles of home but its getting harder and harder to find the start point of walks in the Worcestershire Wilds.  The Sat Nav in an Audi Q3 attempts to reclassify farm tracks as navigable roads.  The re-adjustment through the single track lanes of Sinton Green hardly inspired confidence.

But eventually I do find Monkwood Nature Reserve - donated by a brush manufacturer for the preservation of butterflies.  I know this, as the first task of the day is to decipher notice board information for a chance of an FYI Multi Geocache.  

What a Butterfly Nature Reserve looks like in Winter

Once the co-ords are gained, I am off for a varied walk that takes in the woodland (not too muddy), for fields (muddy) to what could have been pub 1 of the day.

A forlorn looking Red Lion at Holt Heath

The Severn Way is picked up and a pleasant stretch of walking materialises through Holt, Top Barn Farm and Grimley.

Severn Way Signage

Holt - a church was expected, but a C14th Castle wasn't.   Impressive for a private residence.

Holt Church - complete with a Church Micro Geocache

Holt Castle

Top Barn - a collection of light industrial units but with a bonus open cafe that accepted card transactions.  Even for a £1 Americano.

Grimley - another pub (The Waggon Wheel) and filled in gravel pits that don't appear on the OS Map but do maintain the integrity of the public Right Of Ways - with a banked footpath dissecting the bodies of water.

The Landscape is changing

A re-working of the route to find the treasure from the FYI Geocache and I am walking through the hamlet of Sinton Green.  The map shows the big blue cup of joy, but even then, the New Inn is tricky to find.  Its both tucked away and being re-claimed by nature.

I have to ask a local if is still a going concern.  And yes, surprisingly it is.  Although only open when the landlord feels like.

I may have to go back when Boris allows it.

But they have to be open AND able to sell beer

30/01/21 - Broughton Hackett, Crowle and Huddington

Distance - 8 Miles

Geocaches - 2

Walk Inspiration - Julie Royle's Worcestershire Walks

The first "big" walk I completed in the first lockdown was Crowle, Himbleton and Huddington.  This was on a gorgeous May Day, where the bunting was out in celebration of VE Day.

Now, I am not entirely sure what lockdown we are in, but the first "big walk" since the pubs shut this time around is in a similar area, East of Worcester.  No glorious spring weather either, it was as bleak as rambling gets  The camera spent most of the route hidden away from the sleet, whilst I concentrated on not getting trench foot.

The route starts at a lay-by on the A422, heads up through Crowle on lanes to Netherwood Cottages.  Terra Firma left behind on a slosh to Sale Green and Huddington before the real grief starts in the poorly signposted flooded farmland and through Bow Wood.

A miserable beast of the field, Crowle Church peeking through the New Builds

Old Crowle

When the Floor of Bow wood is a Mud Fest - Look Up

The final part of the walk was meant to be be through Court Farm, but I could take no more mud.  There is a footpath along the A422, which provided safety from everything apart from the log flume splashes of cars speeding through the puddles.

With no pub to report, I will turn the blog into a gear review.

Goretex GTX doesn't really work.

23/01/20 - Dudmaston Woods

Distance - 5.5 Miles

Geocaches - 3

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, Feb 2021, Walk 9

Dudmaston Hall sits in land that has been owned by the same family for 875 years and never sold.  There's a C17th Manor House, which this walks never gets close to, sitting on the opposite side of the A442.  Once the pandemic is over, one could have a proper day out.

This is a simple walk completed in sub zero temperatures that has frozen the mud and increased the pleasure tenfold.  Start at the old Sawmills Car Park, through a sheep field and into the woods, where we find three pools.  If we had an ice-breaker, Guide Dog in Training Abi could have a dunk in any of Wall, Seggy and Brim Pools.  No doubt we will be back in the Summer.

Through the Sheep and into...

... The Woods at Dudmaston

At a time when everything is closed and entertainment options are limited, we are delighted to find the Shepherd's Hut Coffee Shop open at the halfway point of the walk, near Heath Farm.  

Not every walk in the countryside can be completed with a skinny flat white, an Americano and a cappuccino.  If I wasn't holding a coffee, I would have brought you a photo of the most joyous that 3/4 of family Mappiman have been all week.

Anything else to report, I hear Blogfans cry?  Well, on the OS Map, there is "Forest Oak" marked in ancient text.  I was expecting something better than a scrawny looking tree in a muddy cow field.

Forest Oak - On the Map

Forest Oak in the Flesh

A little bit of research shows that its the last remaining Oak from the Forest of Morfe (providing my pub link for a previous visit to the Lion O' Morfe, yes, its tenuous but I am getting desperate).

The muddy field is known as Witches Field and the aforementioned Heath Farm Coffee Stop took its name from Heathensditch.

Shropshire providing some spooky blog material.