Heart of England Way - Part 6 - Bidford to Chipping Campden

A fine day was forecast which is why it was a bit of a surprise when it started to rain not long after I got in the car to leave Coventry.  I decided to bring my collie dog with me this time.  Let's see what adventures that will bring.  Luckily the rain soon stopped as we headed south to my starting point of Bidford-on-Avon where there's a convenient free car park just north of the old bridge, the starting point for the day. 

Early morning mist on the Avon at Bidford

The sunlight and mist on the fields and river made it ideal for taking some photos but trying to juggle camera, backpack and dog on the narrow bridge wasn't easy.  The HoEW follows the Avon upstream for a while till it reaches the picturesque village of Barton. 


Latterbox Cottage in Barton

Leaving Barton the path follows a track for half a mile and then onto open farmland.  It's not long before we enter Collets Wood, another one of the areas planted with new trees thanks to Felix Dennis who I mentioned in the last blog.  As we exit the area the signage becomes confusing sending me off in a different direction as that indicated on the map and my GPX file on the GPS.  I can only assume that the Way has recently been rerouted to take walkers though some of the new Heart of England Forest.  It turns out to be a good diversion as it passes the final resting place of Felix Dennis, now adorned with a lovely sculpture of the of Dennis wearing a jacket engraved with some of his poems sculpted by the artist Andrew Sinclair. 

Sculpture of Felix Dennis

 

After going through Dorsington village the path continues south-east along the banks of Noleham Brook and is conveniently fenced off from the nearby fields full of sheep.  I entered the village of Long Marston via a narrow lane at the back some houses, crossed the main road which took me down a lane to cross the Stratford Greenway, an old railway line and now cycleway into Stratford.  Not far after this, my dog Shadow decided he didn't like the route.  We were approaching a firing range and he was getting spooked by the noise.  He lay down and refused to move any further.  This meant finding a different route.  We headed south across some fields and onto the road, a fortuitous diversion as we found a nice coffee shop that I otherwise wouldn't have discovered.

The chance discovery of Violetta's tearoom

 

The village of Lower Quinton appeared in the distance.  From the angle we had it was only modern housing so rather than continue on the road to join the HoEW there we took the footpaths SE over the fields to the attractive village of Upper Quinton and rejoined the Way there.  From here the path skirted the flanks of Meon Hill and also gained some height so offered good views over the Vale of Evesham.  The first couple of fields crossed were rutted, probably due to historical use, with peaks and troughs every three or four meters making for a strange walking experience.

Views over Meon Hill and a muddy path.  There was mud of every variety today - slushy, sticky, slippery.....

Walkers of the HoEW don't necessarily get to see the best views of the village of Mickleton, famed for being home of the Pudding Club.   The path enters the village down a ramshackled track, across a playing field and then exits again via someones back garden.  OK, I may have got a bit lost at this stage.  Things improve then a bit and a good view of the church is seen before a steep climb up onto the road at Barker's Hill.  Some passersby warned me of the upcoming muddy paths but it was no worse than I'd been on all day.    

Before I knew it I was back walking on country lanes with a more solid footing that ended up at the pretty Mickleton Hill's Farm and the first building seen with a real Cotswold look about them.  Stephen Cross's guidebook of the Heat of England Way also describes how the railway tunnel I crossed here was the last time the Riot Act was read in England in 1849 in a dispute between Brunel's company and one building the tunnel.

Soon after crossing the tunnel the path enters a giant dome-shaped arable field topped with derelict farm buildings and machinery giving the area a strange feel.  Descending from the field we enter the market town of Chipping Campden and there's no doubting now we have arrived in the Cotswolds.  The first thing you see is the large St James church which had a very Christmassy feel to it with the sound of the choir practising for the upcoming concert emanating from it.  

A restored banqueting house in Chipping Campden

Just as I was about to explore the East Banqueting House behind the church I bumped into my wife.  It's OK, we'd arranged to meet in the town so she could kindly give me a lift back to Bidford.  We had a pleasant hour wandering around the town. 

end of the day - Chipping Campden

 

 When we turned to come back poor Shadow had another sit down protest.  We think it's because he hadn't worked out that Margaret had her car in town and was thinking he was going to have to walk the 15 miles back to Bidford.  Fair play to him, he'd probably walked 30 miles already with all the running around he'd done.    

Heart of England Way - Part 5 - Henley-in-Arden to Bidford

The weather forecast predicted it would stop raining early morning and fair play to them, they were right; just as I arrived in Henley in Arden it seemed to stop.  Whilst I'm on the subject of judging things here's my marks for Henley: ten out of ten for having a public convenience and a good coffee shop, zero out of ten for signposting the way to the station.  Never mind, found it eventually, donned my wet weather gear and set off south.



The path supposedly went through the middle of this lake. 

It was pretty quiet on the path today, certainly away from the villages.  The streams and rivers were high but not quite breaking their banks.  Some of the fields however were sodden with plenty of water running off them.

This area was once covered by the Forest of Arden and one man, the late Felix Dennis, business entrepreneur, publisher and tree lover has been tried his best to recreate the forest and has bequeathed much of his fortune to do so:  Felix Dennis Heart of England Forest Project . Felix Dennis is also famed for being jailed in the 1970s as part of the Oz magazine obscenity trial.

The first place I came across Dennis's work was Bannam's Wood where I also almost stood on an infant muntjac deer who seemed to be wet and miserable.

Poor little fellow

Not a tree but a bench donated by Felix Dennis in Brannam's Wood.  It would indeed have been nice to rest here on a dry day but it was one of those days today where you need to keep moving, but thanks anyway Felix.

Alcester was two thirds of the way along today's walk and therefore ideally placed for a coffee stop.  It's quite a sizable town with a mix of old and modern housing, a church in the centre with a coffee shop next to it. 

Good coffee and eccles cake.  Hope I didn't scare them too much by being so muddy.



The old streets of Alcester

There was plenty of geocaching to be had today, particularly at the southern end of the walk.  In fact I had to stop caching eventually for fear of not making it to Bidford before it got dark.  I found 22 caches all together, many of them as part of a Delta68's power trail in the area.    There were even a couple of trig points but I'd already visited those previously ten years ago.




Of all the trees I saw today, and there were a lot of them, this one in Alcester seemed to typify the season of autumn best.

Just south of Alcester I took a short diversion off the Heart of England Way onto the Arden Way and then up Oversley Woods. Why?  Because it's a TuMP, a hill with a thirty meter promontory i.e. a drop of 30 meters between it and the next TuMP.   There were four of these on or near my route today adding a mile or two to the original 14 miles.

A well decorated shed in a caravan park through which the HoEW passes..

South of Oversley the scenery seemed to change.  Arable farming was replaced by numerous horse paddocks.  In fact I began to feel like a horse after a while given the number of stiles I had to jump over.  The villages are becoming quite posh.  I even bumped into Nigel Havers.  OK, it may not have been him but it didn't half look like him.


The Fish Inn with an umbrella entrance porch - no, I don't know why either.
 

The clouds lifted for the last hour of my walk giving some welcome late afternoon sunshine.

I'll end the blog with a rant concerning the pricing policies used by bus and train companies. There didn't seem to be a direct link between Bidford and Henley, certainly not on a Sunday, so my route took me by bus into Stratford and then train back to Henley.  The empty bus arrived dead on time and for the relatively short hop into Stratford I was charged £4.15.  The driver said the standard fare was £4.70 but he could sell me a cheaper daytripper ticket.  There was me expecting something round the £2 mark.  When I called up the bus company on Monday I was told that actually the daytripper was £7 and they don't know where the driver got the £4.15 price from. Never mind I said, I've two buses to catch on the next leg of the Heart of England Way so I'll get a daytripper ticket then.  That won't help I was told, the buses are operated by two different companies.

The train journey was longer and cheaper but the pricing policy still annoyed me. A single ticket  was £3.70, whilst the day return was £3.60  (yes, I did buy the return ticket).  As the train was 30mins late due to signalling problems I started to read the posters.  One described railcards for the young, the old, the disabled, the family, for groups and for people travelling in pairs.  It seems nobody likes the single traveller going one way. OK, rant over. 

 

Heart of England Way - Part 4 - Meriden to Henley-in-Arden

What a grey dank day this was.  The sun never chose to show itself and the heavy dew stayed in place all day.  It certainly wasn't a day for taking photographs.  On the plus side though it never rained, temperatures were pleasant and there was no wind.

Queen's Head in Meriden and start of the days walking

When trying to work out the logistics for the day I decided the easiest thing to do was drive the short distance to Meriden and leave my car there for the day and use public transport to get back at the end of the day. 

This is certainly local territory for me and the walk from the Queen's Head up through the churchyard of St Laurence's and across the fields to Berkswell seemed very familiar.  Berkswell Church, like many throughout the country no doubt, are busy commemorating the outbreak of the First World War and those local inhabitants who lost their lives in it.  Walking on my own today gave plenty of opportunity to reflect on that event and those poor young soles who lost their lives, whether the cause itself was right or wrong.

Not the weather for taking countryside shopts today. This pond is between Meriden and Berkswell.

The recent rain has meant that some of the fields were very wet indeed but the recently redecked boardwalk leading out of Berkswell made for a drier passage than may otherwise have been. 

Unusual entrance to Berkswell church

Although it was a dull day weatherwise there was a surprising number of people up and about, walking their dogs or just out for a stroll it seemed.  South of Ballsall Common I caught up with a pleasant gentleman whose retirement plan was to walk Lands End to John O'Groats in stages.  He seemed to be doing rather well by the sounds of it having walked the south West path from Lands End to Minehead and done the Cotswold Way.

I had my mind set on a pot of tea and a cake at the National Trust tea rooms at Baddesley Clinton.  The HoEW goes straight pat the front door after all.  I was to be disappointed however as the entrance fees are collected before the tea room and being a non-member I was forbade access.  I made do with eating mt sandwiches and a bottle of water sat on one of their benches outside watching the smartly dressed people  heading into the property.

Rowington Church

The days walk had been very flat indeed and it was nice to get to the village of Rowington where a few gentle slopes began to appear.  I glanced at my GPS and was shocked when it indicated I was off the HoEW although my map clearly said I was on it.  I later discovered there are two alternative routes from Baddesley to Lowonsford.  I was now far enough away from Coventry for some geocaches I hadn't found to start appearing on my GPS.  I picked up one and failed to find another.

Not something that would normally catch my eye but this splash of colour on an otherwise very grey day just made me smile

As I approached Henley-in-Arden the scenery made a dramatic change.  The path followed a ridge topped with what used to be a Norman stone and timber fort, Beaudesert Castle,  and good views all round.

After descending from hill you quickly arrive in the main street of Henley.  A quick look up and down the street soon identified a tea shop where I had coffee and tiffin which left just enough time to find the station and buy a ticket.  I bumped into the wife of the walker I'd met earlier in the day and was glad to hear he too was nearing the end of the walk, as I'd been a bit worried I hadn't seen him since I'd left him even though I stopped in Baddesley.

A well positioned tea shop in Henley made a good end to a good day

Henley in Arden high street

The journey back was a bit torturous.  The train into Birmingham on a fairly fuill train was fine, stopping at tiny stations I'd never heard off.  Good to see the line being well used.  The bus stop for the 900 bus back to Meriden is straight outside Birmingham Moor Street station, but with it being 5pm on a pre-Christmas Saturday the bus took an eternity to get back to Meriden. Never mind, it was a good and dry 15 mile walk.

Heart of England Way - Part 3 - Kingsbury to Meriden

The fine Autumnal weather continues, not every day by any means but scattered there amongst the damp November days are some gloriously sunny days like this one.

The early morning fog was still in the air as I left Coventry and headed north to Kingsbury.  Underfoot conditions were damp to say the least and I was wearing some new Solomon light weight, supposedly waterproof, shoes for the first time.  Would they keep the water out I wondered. 

Across a couple of fields and I arrived at the firing range and some confusing signage.  Not the place to make a mistake I thought.  I'd decided not to bring the dog with me as he's had enough frightening experiences lately with all the fireworks around.  Across the field I could see the Kingsbury Oil terminal, the biggest in,and terminal in the country. 

From a distance I thought these posts were a fence keeping this fine fellow in but as I got nearer I realised there was no fence!  Luckily he stayed where he was.

From then on it was pretty much open countryside all day.  There were no villages to pass through and any road walking was of short distances on very minor roads, almost tracks in some instances.  The milky sunshine made for a great light.



My lunchtime stop next to this sceenic pond

The farmers had been busy ploughing and the HoEW hadn't always been reinstated. after ploughing.  There was only one field just immediately north of the M6 that was in a bad condition with ankle deep mud. 

Strike one!

Walking through Meriden shafts I caught up with another walker, Harry. A pleasant fellow who like me used weekend walking to recharge his batteries.  I left him near the Queen's Head in Meriden as he carried on for Berkswell and I finished my 15 mile walk with a nice pint of Spitfire beer.......and I'm pleased to say, dry feet!

Capital Walk - Part 1 - Seawall to Marshfield

The Capital Walk is a 38 mile route around the outskirts of Cardiff put together by the local Ramblers group.  It is not waymarked as such nor does it appear as a dedicated long distance footpath on OS maps but it is available as a gpx file for uploading onto a GPS.  As I was in the area for the weekend I thought I would tackle the first couple of miles, starting at the seawall near St Bride's Wentlooge.

We'd walked our border collie along the seawall for a bit earlier before he decided he's go and chase the waves without realising that there was deep estuary mud between us and the sea.  A scary moment as he sunk into it looked like he may not get out.  Walking inland after that seemed a safer option!

Start of the Capital Walk - I was surprised to find a short stretch of sand as all the rest of the estuary shoreline is comprised of thick mud.

After a brief stop off to have a look at sheds I carried on up the lanes and finished the walk in by heading off the route and meeting my wife at Marshfield Church.

Garth Bakery - I chuckled when I saw this old lorry container being used as a horse shelter in a field.  It reminded me of a time a few years ago when I tried to find a similar photo to post on FB claiming the lead baker was called Ollie........OllieGarth.  Yes, it wasn't funny then either.

My dog started sniffing in the hedgerow and when I went to investigate I found this poor fellow.