Started in the centre of Naunton, visiting the ancient Dovecote.
We then followed the River Windrush and the derelict railway line to Bourton on the water where we stopped on the bank of the River for coffee (before we got into the massive crowds in the centre of town.) where we spotted an otter
We returned via lower slaughter (visiting the mill) upper slaughter and back to Naunton, 11.7 miles 5 hours (including stops)
Started at Evesham station and caught the 0948 train to Pershore. Started the walk at 1000. Coffee in Fladbury and lunch on the edge of a field off red lane Evesham
The heritage centre is located on the west side of the Forest of Dean near Soudley ponds. The route passed the ponds to the Springs wood viewing point
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| The Severn from the Springs wood lookout |
The view a little further on from Dean hill was even more impressive
We then proceeded through the centre of Newnham then along the river bank southwards to Bullo
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| Centre of Newnham |
There is a village hall near Oaklands Park with benches where we stopped for Lunch. We returned up the gorge through two bridges and back to the heritage centre, just in time for tea and cake.
10.8 miles in 5 hours total
The walk started with a train ride to the end of the line at Pwllheli , the 2 coaches having come all the way from Birmingham international!
The walk started along the edge of the (drained) harbour then 6km along the virtually deserted beach to Pen ychain.
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| Harbour at low tide |
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| The deserted beach |
The route then goes inland and skirts the Holiday camp previously Butlins Pwllheli, now a static caravan park on the way to Afon Wen. The stretch of path after the outcrop before the holiday camp is interesting as it uses some of the trackbed for the 21" narrow gauge that was used to transport holidaymakers from the Butlins holiday camp ahead to the beach (closed in 1996).
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| The view from Afon Wen |
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| The view back to Criccieth |
The busy A497 road is then followed to Llanystumdwy where shortly afterwards it goes through marshes to the coast then along the cliff edge to Criccieth
10 miles 4 hours
I started the route at Boston Lodge and walked across the cobb into Porthmadog. The path then goes round the edge of the harbour and over the ridge to Borth y guest.From here there is a long stretch of the wide golden sands of Black rock sands. The only hazard being the number of cars driving up and down the beach. At the east end of the sands the OS map shows a path up the cliff. It has long gone. The route north around the base of the cliff is blocked by a campsite so a retreat and diversion is necessary.
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| The view from the cliff back along part of the beach |
The route then follows alongside the railway line to Criccieth, in time for Ice cream at Cadwaladers
9 miles 3.5 hours
The initial plan was to visit NT Hidcote Manor to tour the gardens. I didnt think it would be busy on a monday. Wrong, it is the school holidays! Seeing how full the car park was I decided it was time for a walk (or two)
I rembered that the Lark Stoke TV masts (the highest point in Warwickshire) was up the track so I went there, The view included Sugarloaf near Abergavenny, Titterstone clee and the Malverns
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The view towards South Wales#
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| Walk 2 |
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| The view back down the slope towards the Malverns |
As I was guiding this walk in mid August it seemed a good idea to do a reccy. Due to the current unreliability of GWR I decided that I would do the published route in reverse. So i went to Honeybourne and started it there
The walk goes through the centre of the strawberry farm which had lots of strawberries very few of which were ripe (by design?). The fleet Inn in was passed in Bretforton, then through Badsey and the orchards then through Evesham to the station
I only met 5 people on the route, including an American trio who were off to the Fleet for lunch before flying home
7.8 miles in 3 hours.
I volunteered to lead this walk, which should have been easy as it was done on May 2 by the Saturday group, It was not to be THAT easy!
I did a reccy on July 10. The steps down the west end of ham hill (part of the 3 choirs way!), which had been challenging on may 2 were impassable due head high brambles and nettles. I devised a diversion via ham lane, but that had the same problem, making it impassable for a group, so I retreated
I returned on July 13 to try another route, bypassing Powick. by going down old malvern road. The first footpath was blocked by a locked gate, but even overcoming that the footpath was non existent. Following the route on the OS map it came to a halt when blocked by an enormously wide/high/deep blackbeery coppice. A retreat was made and the second footpath nothbound tried. This allowed the route the to be completed even though the steep descent of ham hill was challenging
By the time the walk started on 16 July the temperature was more tolerable than the previous 7 days and the walk was completed without incident by 16 walkers despite the overgrown undergrowth in places
We met at Evesham station at 0930. We were met with walkers from the Evesham walking festival who were catching the train for a walk in the other direction, Unfortunately their train was cancelled before we left at 0935 for Pershore. The good news was that the ticket machine at Pershore had been fixed and one can now buy a one day parking ticket!
There was a headwind so the heat was less of an issue. The biggest challenge was attracting the attention of the ferryman who was on the opposite bank. We did start the alternate route into Evesham but that was so overgrown to make it unusable. Luckily I heard the sound of chains behind us as the ferry man brought the ferry across to our side!
This was my second walk as walk leader for Worcester Ramblers.
We started at Swinyard car park promptly at 1000 (despite the parking ticket machine being faulty) and walked up past the Gullett Quarry to the Obelisk on the Eastnor estate.
Continuing across the estate we passed the new addition, part of the Berlin wall! This was chosen as the coffee break
Total 6.8 miles
I decided it was time to revisit the Cotswold line Rail Trails and offer it as a Saturday Walk to the Worcester Ramblers. The first leg would be a merging of the Foregate street to Parkway and Parkway to Pershore routes to form a Foregate street to Pershore route, as was originally done during the Malvern Walking Festival in 2023
A reccy in late February showed there was a diversion near Millhouse (Peopleton) as the wooden bridge was closed for 6 months to be repaired. Fortunately Worcestershire CC confirmed 3 days before the walk that the repairs were completed before Easter so the detour would not be needed
Four of us parked at Pershore station (actually in Pinvin! but beware, the GWR ticket machine on the platform only sells weekly Parking tickets for £20!!) We caught the train to Foregate street and met up with another 3 walkers.starting the walk at 0920
The route took us out of Worceter via the Country Park (coffee break) to Lunch which was had at the lake near Peartrees listening to the birdsong. The route then continued through Peopleton to Pershore station arriving at 1420, just in time for those who wanted to catch the train back to Worcester
11.8 miles
Having left Felixstowe in 1994 I decided that I would have an extra day while attending the Martlesham Microwave round table on the Sunday walking the area on Saturday
I parked at the SeaVu hotel and was stunned at the hundreds of people moving swiftly up the Promonade. Investigation revealed it was the Felixstowe Park run!
I set off Northbound past the Pier and the Theatre which was pleasant with the wind behind me walking all the way to Bawdsey Ferry
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| Bawdsey Ferry |
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| The Ferry! |
I then decided to walk south to the other local ferry, which crosses the Deben to Harwich at Landguard point 2.5 hours 7 miles
While at Landguard point I got to see a container ship get brought in
After spending the previous day walking the four waterfalls dodging the hail storms the weather turned fine so I decided to have another go at reaching the Canadian Lancaster crash site. To avoid the need to wade across the stream again I decided to start from the Talybont reservoir
The route starts with walking up Twyn Du then it is fairly flat until you reach Carn Pica where you are greeted with a steep walk up some steps to the marker.
Continuing along Waun Rydd you turn left at the pathway intersection to the Memorial which can be seen glinting in the distance
There are a lot of aircraft pieces still on site (the engine rolled down the hill!)
Having got to 700m i decided to keep walking at this altitude going along Graig Fal Las turning right at the Cairn to cross the very Boggy path to Craig cwmoergwm, The views of the snow capped big 3 was impressive but i decided to go to Fan y big (which i had previously visited up the very steep Western slope) for Lunch
I took a different route back along the ridge at Craig Cwareli and Bwlch y Ddwyallt with fine views of breacon and Sugar Loaf Mountain nearer Abergavenny before descending back to the reservoir down Cairn Pica
As the forecast looked to be continuing damp, and not wanting a repeat of the previous days conditions i decided to go and visit the four waterfalls trail. Having a lot of trees it would at least be sheltered
I went to the Cwm Porth Car park (very efficient parking machine in the middle of nowhere...they use Starlink!) where the attendant was just setting up for the rush starting at Easter. He was very helpful and suggested a route which would visit all 4 waterfalls , including avoiding the path closure
The four waterfalls are Sgwd Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd y Pannwr and Sgwd yr Eira. The first three waterfalls are on the Afon Mellte (Mellte River) while the last is on the Afon Hepste (Hepste River).
After walking along the well signposted track from the car park enduring two hailstorms, Sgwd yr Eira, (the ‘waterfall of snow) was visited first as you can actually walk behind the water sheet and I wanted to avoid the crowds. Need not have worried there were just 3 of us and a dog there!
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| After walking behind the waterfall |
Working Northwards Sgwd y Pannwr was next walking through another hail storm!
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| Sgwd y Pannwr |
Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn was next although it was a bit hard to see as the footpath that goes by it was closed. This resulted in walking from Sgwd y Pannwr to a deadend then walking back again
Sgwd Clun-Gwyn was the last waterfall
I then returned along the trail to the car park
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| Inside the cave |
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| Outside the cave |
Started in the centre of Naunton, visiting the ancient Dovecote. We then followed the River Windrush and the derelict railway line to Bour...
