Heart of England Way Day 3

I took Friday off work to do the next stage of Heart of England Way if the weather was OK. Lindsay had agreed to come along with me as she doesn't work on Fridays anyway. She managed to find her way to my house by about 10am and we set off in my car for Kingsbury, where I had finished on Sunday. We set off walking at about 10.30am. It wasn't exactly the most pleasant of starts… along the main road in Kingsbury and then down an overgrown alley between houses and behind back yards. We crossed the old Midland Railway line from Birmingham to Burton on Trent and although into the countryside after this, there were workmen with chainsaws and earth moving so any peace there might have been was shattered. One advantage of them being there was a lonely Portaloo which we cheekily made use of! Afterwards we crossed another main road and then skirted the edge of the rifle range, to climb gently(?) out of the Tame Valley across a huge arable field towards the village of Hurley, which like Kingsbury was an old mining village. The Way doesn't enter the village and cuts across fields and then to a lane which we followed to Foul End. From here we followed a nice green track down to a field and then another track through trees, past a small field of Aberdeen Angus cattle and then past large houses nestled in the trees to cross a main road and fields to the village of Whitacre Heath.

Lindsay modelling the handy portaloo!

Me and Aberdeen Angus... I'm the one in the foreground! Cheeky!!!:)

We decided we would stop at The Swan Pub just over the railway bridge for lunch. Rob and I had stopped here for a pint and picnic lunch outside when we did Centenary Way! It took about an hour to order and eat. Time was getting on and it seemed that we were not going to be anywhere near reaching our 15 odd miles to Berkswell for the day? Oh well! We carried on and retraced our steps over the railway bridge and rejoined The Way along the side of the railway line. At this point the path is both Heart of England Way and Centenary Way! We soon diverged and cut across fields towards the two Reservoirs at Shustoke.

We crossed the next railway line, this time the Midland Railways line from Nuneaton to Birmingham and followed a path running alongside this and the two Reservoirs of Shustoke. These were originally built to supply Birmingham, but when the city's water started to be pumped from the Elan Valley in Wales in about 1905, they were handed over to supply Nuneaton and Coventry.

Lindsay on our way across fields
to Shustoke reservoirs

The Nuneaton to Birmingham train, just after
we crossed the tracks

Me on the path alongside the railway line and Shustoke Reservoirs.

Tree reflections in the river at the end of Shustoke Reservoir

From the end of the reservoirs we climbed across fields to cross the B4114 and then into more fields. Not far from Church End we sat down for a rest and decided we were not going to make it much further before we ran out of time, as I was going out to the theatre quite early in the evening in Birmingham and had to get ready first and go and collect the car from Kingsbury too! We decided to ring my mum to come and fetch us from Church End as there wasn't really much civilisation between here and Meriden another 7 miles away! We made our way across to the Griffin Inn and waited a few minutes for her to arrive and she took us back to the car in Kingsbury. Oh well.. only 8 miles and not the planned 15 or so, but enjoyable, even if the scenery hadn't been that exciting today.

Lindsay showing you just how good an apple a day is for your teeth!:)
Just before giving up for the day!