Heart of England Way Day 6

Well after an over-winter break, with Spring well and truly in the air, I decided to finish Heart of England Way in one, 40 mile, 3 day stint. My friend Karen had said that she would like to join me, so we picked the dates of the early May bank holiday and I booked B&B's for the Saturday and Sunday evenings.

My mum, as usual, did a sterling job by ferrying us both to Henley in Arden, where I had finished walking at the end of October. I was quite daunted about doing the whole 40 miles in three days, as over winter, my fitness levels had dropped and I'd piled weight on. 40 miles for the first walk of the season, therefore, seemed a tall order.

Karen already looking slightly cheesed off before setting off from Henley in Arden!

With spirits high though, we set off from Henley town centre at about 10.30am. We cut through the back streets, gently climbing towards the Station and crossed the Birmingham to Stratford railway there. This line was once part of GWR apparently. For a short while we very gradually climbed over flat arable fields that were fairly boring, always heading for a hill on the horizon topped by ancient woodland. At the top of this we stopped for a snack break. Although not high, (about 450ft), this hill gave good views back the way we had come, and all around, and as we walked along the fringes of Banhams Wood (an SSSI) we had beautiful glimpses through to carpets of bluebells and trees clothed in the freshest greens of their bursting buds. After Banham Woods we continued to walk for a couple of miles through gently undulating hills with many wooded areas, all carpetted with bluebells giving off a heady scent, having to avoid a herd of over inquisitive bullocks in one field.

Karen not far away from Henley in Arden.

I wonder just how many styles we went over in the 40 miles?

Approaching the first little hill with Banham's Wood perched on top.

View back towards Henley on Arden from our snack stop at the top of the hill with Banham's Wood on it.

The carpet of bluebells in Banham's Wood.

And again!

More blue bells carpeted all the woods perched on the hills all the way to Alcester.

See!:) What a pongy stretch of walk it was too! Even I could smell them with MY nose.

After Alne Woods we descended slightly and then crossed a broad highish dome of land, eventually emerging at its edge, overlooking the industrial estates of the small town of Alcester. We sat here for a while 'admiring' the view and having some more snacks, and then walked along the lip of this hill, eventually descending past a trig point and walking along the road into the pretty little town itself. As we descended it began to rain, the promising high, grey clouds having descending and looking more like they were going to hang around for a while! We trudged along the road and made a bee line for the first pub we came to! This days walking was a gentle break in of only 10 miles and so we'd plenty of time to dawdle along the way! Alcester was once a Roman staging post called Aluana. Today the square around St Nicholas's Church is a pretty mixture of buildings, from red brick to timber framed and stone.

The rain stopped while we were on our second pint and so we set off again, walking along to the square and exiting it along the very pretty Malt Mill Lane, which is flanked by timber framed buildings that are now restored and converted to old people's sheltered housing.

Karen trudging wetly into Alcester.

And much more cheery after a couple of pints and the rain stopping!

The church of St Nicholas's in its small and pretty square in Alcester.

The church square end of Malt Mill Lane.

The street was named after a malting kiln discovered behind one of the houses on the eastern side of the lane. At the end of the lane we crossed a small park area to the road and crossing this followed a lane to cross the River Arrow on a brick bridge.

From here we followed a couple of lanes and then crossed the busy main road on a footbridge, gently climbing all the way up the edge of Primrose Hill. This marks the southernmost tip of the gently hilly Arden landscape.

Looking back down Malt Mill Lane towards the church square.

The brick bridge over the River Arrow as we were
leaving Alcester

From this hill the land drops away to the south across the largely boring and flat Vale of Evesham beyond which were the distant outliers of our ultimate goal… The Cotswolds. We climbed up the hill on a concrete track, the main road below us and to our right. On the opposite side of this valley we could see the imposing building of Ragley Hall. We reached a farm and then cut left across bright fields of sickeningly sweet smelling rape (a smell, like the heady scent of bluebells earlier, that was to be with us on numerous occasions throughout our walk). We headed towards, and then around the base of a higher piece of land with the Victorian Oversley Castle sitting at its top.

The gorgeous if pongy rape fields, with the high ground of Oversley Casle on the left.

St. Milburgha's, Wixford.

This was to prove a very noticeable and prominent landmark throughout the next day of our walk as we trapsed across the boring and flat landscape of the Vale of Evesham! We were constantly looking back towards its distant shape to see how far we had managed to trudge!

Having gone around this hill we descended a short lane/drive to the tiny church of St Milburgha's at Wixford. The lane leading to this was once the Roman Ryknild Street which ran north to Watling Street (A5) and south to Bourton on the Water and the Fosse Way.

Crossing the lane we crossed field paths behind an estate of very odd new houses, all built to be very different from each other with barn conversion bits and archways and nooks and crannies all built in various materials. As we approached the River Arrow we turned left and walked along a field flanking it, through a small caravan park and emerged in the car park of the Fish Inn. Of course we thought we might have a drink or two before going along into the village to find our B & B for the night.

After two more pints and some pub snacks we wandered up the street with timber framed houses on our right. Only a hundred yards up on the left was Orchard Lawns. It was an odd B & B! It was a modern house and spotlessly clean inside, so that we felt we were messing the place up by merely existing. Mrs Kember was welcoming but curt. We asked her where was the best place to eat. She advised us to try the other pub in the village, The Three Horse Shoes, so after a shower we set off up the road to try there. It was very busy with it being bank holiday weekend and a big party in there so we had to wait until 9.15 for a table! We didn't mind downing a few drinks beforehand and the food was very much worth the wait! Perfect starter of Stilton and Peppered Fillet of Beef salad, cooked to perfection….. pink in the middle, with the melt in the mouth texture of smoked salmon. This was followed by Rump steak served with mushrooms stuffed with pate and smothered in a creamy brandy sauce! Sigh!

Eating such food, and having found the first 10 miles so easy, our spirits were very high as we wandered back down to Orchard Lawns! I had expected me to struggle with even the first day after such a break form wlaking over winter, and with me being so fat and unfit! It seemed like the next two days of the walk, although much longer at 15.5 milesish each, were going to be a breeze! How wrong you can be! As I always say to anyone… never underestimate the cumulative effects of walking day after day with no rest days between!