Dovedale day 1

 Consulting the OS map I discovered that the old Ashbourne to Buxton railway line had been converted to a trail so i decided to walk up the track,  cut across to Dovedale and walk down  Dovedale back to the hotel

Leaving at 0900 I walked through Thorpe and joined the railway heading North. I had a slight diversion and walked round Tissington 

Leaving the Railway at Alsop I climbed up Nabs View and then descended the steep path down to Milldale for an Ice cream reward at the shop.

I then walked down Dovedale admiring the many caves and having a picnic at Lovers leap. The stepping stones were busy 

so I went towards the National Trust Car park which was packed. As i had come this far i decided to continue round the back of the Izaak Newton hotel and visit Ilam which was also busy. I decided to walk back across the fields on the south bank of the river on the Manifold Trail. which was empty. I crossed the river over the Colwall Bridge 

and walked through Thorpe on the way back to the hotel arriving at 1600

The total distance walked was 15.6 miles!

Dovedale day 0

The RSGB Nntional radio rally was to be held at Newark on September 27. I also found out  HF Holidays were offering a two night stay at a reduced price that weekend at Peveril of the Peak, Dovedale so i decided to  drop in on the way back

When i arrived at the mud at the rally I went to change into my walking footwear only to discover there was none, It had been left in Malvern! I visited the rally and then identified the closest hiking store that turned out to be Millets in the centre of Newark, from where a pair of walking shoes was obtained. Weekend saved!

I then drove to the HF holidays Peveril of the Peak hotel

Rail Trail: Evesham to Honeybourne

 As i was passing Evesham I thought I would take the opportunity to complete the Cotswold and Malvern line route of the Rail Trail rail-trails-cotswold-malvern-line from Evesham to Honeybourne. I parked at Evesham station and walked the 8 mile route to Honeybourne station following the specified route.

The River bridge at Evesham

The National Trust owned Fleet Inn at Bretforton

Strawberry growing Near Honeybourne

Wyre Valley Railtrail Part 4 & 5 Kidderminster to Hagley

 Since doing the Malvern to Evesham RailTrail in May 2023 another, Wyre Valley route has been produced between Worcester and Hagley (the worcs border!)

As it was supposed to be sunny today I left the Malvern Hills to the visitors and did the 2 parts furthest away from home Kidderminster to Blakedown (part 4) and Blakedown to Hagley (part 5)

I travelled to Kidderminster, arriving too early for any activity on the SVR so started the walk at 0840

The first part of the route passed the Aggborough football ground and then the SVR engine sheds 

Next the Kidderminster golf course was crossed.  From this point on the route was rural and quite muddy which the geese seemed to like

 with a lot of horses (malvern hills in the distance). 

Blakedown station was reached after 5.61 miles in 2 hours.

The next part of the route (part 5) was Blakedown to Hagley. Being only 2 miles i decided to do that as well. It was still sunny and fields had a lot of stabled horses.  The 2.26 miles only took 54 minutes.

The return journey was Hagley to Kidderminster to Worcester Foregate street to Malvern. Worcester racecourse looked very wet:-

Church Stretton Day 3

 The weather forecast looked good so we decided to try a longer walk from the HF discovery point. The 8 mile route included Carding Mill Valley,  Bodbury hill and the golf course (claimed to be the highest in England) 

We set off through the Ice house and reservoir at Cunnery then joined Carding Mill valley road, We stopped at the NH Trust visitors centre where we noticed that there was a waterfall at Light Spout so we decided to make a detour. 

Carding Mill Path

turning off the Motts way one encounters many rocks and bolders which was challenging.

Light Spout Waterfall

The only issue was that the path continues up the rocks on the right of the waterfall. It was just possible on this day to clamber up them, but any wetter and it should be avoided. We then cut across Calf ridge and rejoined Jck Mytton way.before making for Haddon Hill. 

Caer Caradoc from Hadon Hill

We descended to the edge of the golf course and had a picnic. The golf course was inhabited by grazing sheep which took no notice of the golfers! 

Leaving the golf course near the 18th green we realised that the NT house was just up the road so we made another diversion and had a delicious afternoon cream tea. We eventually got back to Long Mynd house at 1600 having covered 8.4 miles.

Church Stretton Day 2

 The forecast for this day was rain all day, so we decided to stay in town

Searching the internet we discovered that a Saphos Tours Steam hauled excursion (Welsh Marches express) was travelling from Stourbridge to Bristol by diesel then Bristol to Shrewsbury behind the Royal Scot, The estimated timings were published so we decided to go and see it at Church Stretton station. . It was scheduled to arrive at 1247 but arrived at 1310. 

We returned to Long Myndd Hotel for lunch through a downpour

The train was scheduled to return from Shrewsbury at 1611 but it appeared at 1638:-

It was 70 minutes late into Hereford but, being diesel hauled was 7 minutes early into Stourbridge Junction!

Church Stretton Day 1

The forecast for this day wasnt too bad so we decided to try one of the easy Routes in the HF discovery centre. We chose "on the slopes of Caer Caradoc" which would allow us to admire the fort without climbing the hill!

Looking Back at Long Mynd

Caer Caradoc

4 miles

Church Stretton Day 0

This HF holiday was originally booked in November 2022 in a half price sale to be taken in March 2023. We were notified by HF late February that the property was undergoing a 1.2M£ renovation which wasnt finished and that scaffold and plastic sheet were on the outside of the building ("which may restrict the view") and that as the dining room floor was being levelled meals would be in two shifts in the bar. To compensate for this we would get £10 per day drinks vouchers! Not happy we phoned them and they moved the holiday until July 2023 with little protest.

June 2023 arrives and the advance tour notes still mention the ongoing work and the compensation in drinks vouchers, I again phoned them and they confirmed the scaffold and plastic was still there, so we moved the holiday again to October, which they assured us would not be a building site.

Early October we had confirmed the work was finished (it finished 8 august according to the house manager later) so we set out . 75 miles from Coventry, the biggest delay was the 3 way traffic lights and roadworks on the A49 just outside Shrewsbury.. This meant we got to LongMyndd house at 1615, just in time for afternoon cream tea and unpacking before dinner! 

Long Myndd House

For the record the pool was still there and had not been filled in although the changing facilities looked derelict!

Silverdale Day 2 17 September 2023

After breakfast we decided to go for a walk in the opposite direction along the coast. We walked to Jenny Browns point, admiring the failed attempt to build a seaside resort then inland to the RSPB Leighton Moss Sanctuary near Silerdale station where we had coffee. We came back around the golf course and back into Silverdale village 5.63 miles

 

Silverdale Day 1 16 September 2023

We decided to follow the Lancashire coastal path shown on the OS map. It started across the beach but we quickly learnt that this was a bad idea due to its wet, boggy nature! We followed the coast and stopped at Far Arnside for 90 minutes to watch the incoming time come across Morecome bay which was fascinating. 

We then continued round to Arnside where we had a mid afternoon tea and cake stop. 

We returned via the inland route passing Arnside tower with impressive views of the lake district