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| Into the beautiful Teme
valley for a rivery walk from bridge to bridge. Start at the
tiny hamlet of Stanford Bridge – no relation to it’s more
famous soundy-likey, the
1066 battlefield in Yorkshire (the one Harold won). There’s
a car park next to the Bridge Inn which is nestled under the
new bridge. I’m sure they won’t mind you using it if
it’s your intention to return for victuals. |
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| Cross the old bridge and
the B4203. You’ll see a lane ahead of you that leads to
Shelsley Walsh. This is the largely uneventful half of the
walk – tar macadam all the way to Ham Bridge but you will be
rewarded with country paths on the way back. |
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| If you are desperately
unlucky, you will have chosen the day of the Shelsley Walsh
Speed Hill Climb This involves petrol heads revving their old
bangers up and down a bit of perfectly innocent countryside.
You won’t escape the noise all day. If not, the peace will
only be disturbed by pheasants jumping out of hedges and
screeching. They seem to be genetically engineered to be
stupid. |
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| To the east you can just
make out the top of the clock tower attached to Abberley Hall
School at Great Witley. |
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| For the price a small
diversion you can visit the 12th Century St
Andrew’s Church at Shelsley Walsh. Built in the local
travertine stone, most of the restoration dates from the
1850s. |
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| Carry straight on at the
turning to Shelsley Beauchamp (a place with too many
consonants in its first name and too many vowels in its
second). After 500m you can see an ancient motte in the fields
to your left, although to my untutored eye it looks nothing
more than a mound. |
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| As you near the junction
with the B4204 there’s a footpath with a fingerpost to the
left which appears to cut off the corner. Ignore it, you’ll
get bogged down in a muddy field. |
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| Just on the other side of
the Ham Bridge there’s a footpath that takes you up the east
bank. Stick to the river bank until you reach the first set of
stiles. |
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| The following fields get
seriously damp on occasions and you may want to hoik your
trousers up. |
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| The last field narrows to
a point and a broad path takes you slightly up the bank and
through some woodland. |
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| When you next emerge into
fields, stick to the hedge to your right. The church at
Shelsley Beauchamp is in front of you. The path turns into a
stony lane past a neat little orchard – millions of apples
destined for Bulmers! |
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| When you reach the
church, you need to cross more or less straight over and
follow the sign back to Stanford. There’s a nice bench in
the churchyard if you haven’t eaten yet. |
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| Easy going now until you
reach Pard House Farm, some 2½km further on. There’s a
white house on your left just beyond the farmyard (and the
chickens). The onward path start form a stile at the end of
the house’s drive. Cross the field diagonally. Turn
right over the next stile, back up the drive for 50m and then
left into a grassy lane. Stay on the right edge of the next
field until you enter trees again. Two more stiles and you are
back by the river. It’s just a short stroll through a
caravan park and you’re at your starting point. |
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