There’s a saying that there are more canals in Birmingham than in Venice but here in Worcestershire, we’ve got more than our fair share of towpaths and canals too. And if you’re polite to the fishermen and it’s a fine day, there’s nothing finer than a mooch along by the locks.
In the old
days, Maimee and I often used to take the path from the Droitwich Canal and
follow it all the way to Worcester – which is officially the
Birmingham-Worcester Canal.
It’s a good eight miles as the crow flies but
if you’ve got the kind of family that enjoys getting the bikes out at the
weekend and sticking a picnic in the bike basket, it’s great.
This walk is
one that our friends Archie and Belle enjoy with takes you across the fields
that look down over Hanbury Hall – I’ll give you a shorter walk that takes you
to the Hall later.
The walk
starts on the towpath by the side of the Eagle and Sun pub in Droitwich which
you just stay on until you pass under the number 40 canal bridge and take a
footpath across a field.
The gate to
the field is on your right just after the lock keeper’s cottage.
Go across
the field, over a little bridge and keep going along the side of the field to
another gate. Go though this and then cross the field to another gate which
opens onto the Astwood Road.
Turn right
and then turn left along a footpath which runs alongside the boundary of the
hedge. Carry on through two gates and up across the edge of another field.
Just before
you get to the top of the field, you turn left, carry on across two little
bridges and you will see Hanbury Woods in the distance. There’s a gate at the
edge of the wood which takes you onto a track which goes along the bottom of
the wood.
It’s
normally pretty muddy but the recent high winds seem to have dried things out
and when the sun shines, the colours of the ancient trees – some of them grown
over several hundred years – are really beautiful.
This track
runs round to the right, changes from grassy to stony and will lead you to the
bottom of a hill through a gate.
If you climb
up this track, you’ll come out into Hanbury Churchyard which is another great
place to have a breather on one of the seats looking out over the countryside.
Go out
through the main gates bearing right onto the road and then take a kissing gate
on your left which takes you out on the huge field running diagonally across to
Hanbury Hall.
This is a
great field (parkland if you’re being country house correct) but you need to
stay on your lead because there are always cattle grazing.
If you carry
on, through an avenue of oak trees, you’ll come to another two sets of kissing
gates and past Hanbury’s main gates on your right.
Carry on
past here (sadly, dogs aren’t allowed into the Hanbury Hall grounds – you need
to buy a ticket if you’re walklng without a dog and fancy visiting the house –
and you’ll come to another kissing gate which will take you out on to the road
(B4091).
Turn right
here, carry on straight ahead through an ordinary open five bar gate and turn
right along the edge of a field.
Carry on to
your left at the corner of the field, go past a footpath and just carry
straight on with the field edge on your right.
When you get
to the end of the field, you turn right and go over another little bridge and
head for the corner of Hanbury Woods (you’ll see a footpath signpost in the
distance).
Keep going
straight ahead up towards the top of the hill where there’s a signpost and
carry on towards Summer Hill Farm.
When you
reach here, go straight on through another gate which opens into a field and
bear left to another gate and carry on walking along the side of the field with
the hedge on your right.
Ignore the
footpath on your right and carry on through another gate which takes you over
the railway bridge.
If you carry
on round to your left and go through the final kissing gate of this walk,
you’ll come out onto the canal towpath in Droitwich.
All in all,
this walk’s about six miles and is a bit of a schlapp but it’s mostly on the
flat and at this time of year, pretty much deserted once you get off the town
towpaths.
It’s certainly not recommended for elderly
dogs like Maimee and me but for collies like Belle and Archie, who’s just a pup
with more energy that a bag of popping corn, it’s absolutely the business.
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