Worcs 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

Settle Day 4 15 September 2023

 The walking holiday officially finished this morning but we were to continue our holiday on the Lancashire coast at Silverdale. We saw that Ingleborough caves were on the way so decided to detour. We parked at clapham and walked up Clapham Beck through the Ingleborough estate to the caves. They were fascinating and well worth the visit. 

We then kept walking towards Gaping gill, but decided to stop at the waterfall at Trow Gilland when encountering a cliff climb!  

The rock climb!

We walked back to Lunch at the Estate cafe. We then drove to the coast checked into the Silverdale Hotel and explored Morecombe bay

Settle Day 3 14 September 2023

Todays walk started with the short ride on the 1014 from Settle to Horton. We traversed Horton Scar along the pennine way  passing Sell Gill hole Lunch was had beside the river at Long Gill Bridge over the Beck. After lunch was the big challenge of traversing Scald Bank which had heather, slope and mud! At Nether Lodge we joined the Ribble way northbound over Low Rigg and passing through the deserted village of Thorns. We reached Blea moor road and walked back to Ribblehead, to admire the viaduct again! We also partook of the wonderful Fruit cake sold by the volunteers in the kitchen of Ribblehead station. We caught the 1615 train back to Settle

Ribblehead Viaduct near the end of the hike

 

Settle Day 2 13 September 2023

Todays walk was to go over the top of the Blea Moor tunnel and see the famed Ribblehead Viaduct. We caught the train from Settle to Dent, the highest Station in the UK. This time we left the station and turned uphill up the Coal Road. We turned right and continued round Great Knoutberry hill until we got to Artengill beck. We followed that down the beck passing under Artengill viaduct. 

Artengill viaduct

After lunch at Scow Force waterfall,  we passed Dent Head farm then climbed up the hill to Blea moor.

 As we passed vent 1 a train came through which we could hear through the vent.

We continued over the moor, eventually arriving at the signal box

Before eventually arriving at the viaduct

. We celebrated the end of the walk in the Station inn then caught the 1617 train back to Settle