An afternoon walk south of Claverdon.
Although it was intended that Ray and Peter would be in the group, for various reasons, they could not “make it”, so it was just Larry, Mick and me who left the car park of the Red Lion Inn in Claverdon shortly after 2.00 p.m. and walked the few yards along the road towards Henley until the Old Smithy was reached. Here we turned left and immediately there was a reduction in traffic noise. The Warwick to Henley in Arden Road can get very busy and noisy. Larry, who had done most of this walk before, was in charge of navigation and after walking a short distance along the road took us by the local church, St Michael’s, and through its churchyard to the residential area beyond.
Our route was then
north-west along St Michael’s Road until the T
junction with Langley Road was reached.
Crossing straight over the road we took a footpath
between houses into a small residential close and,
continuing in the same direction, crossed a stile
into open countryside.
Shortly after, having
crossed another stile, we went left and followed
the hedgerow until another stile was crossed into a
lane beyond. Here our way was to the right,
but almost immediately the lane turned left
(outside “The Lake House”) and for the next
10 minutes we followed this path south west,
with some really good views of the south
Warwickshire countryside on our right, until the
Langley Road was again met. Here we turned
right and soon after, as the road turned left, we
crossed a stile on the right, with a sign by it to
remind walkers to “leave only footprints and take
only pictures”. The views along this stretch of the
walk were really good, particularly as we went
downhill to meet a group of cows blocking the exit
from the field. However, they were, to
Larry’s relief, very well behaved and with minor
coaxing allowed us to cross the exit stile where
Larry explained graphically, with the help of Mick,
how the piece of farming apparatus located nearby
was used. It seems this equipment was to
ensure individual cows could be held firmly in
place while they were “serviced” by the local bull.
Leaving this field we emerged on Kington Lane in an
area called Tattle Bank with Larry still explaining
the finer points of servicing a cow – how does he
know all these things?
Having turned right we
walked past a private road on our left – Kington
Rise - before turning left on a wide private
lane/bridleway, called Chestnut Rise, which went
southwards. This part of the route was
familiar to me as I had used this path in the past
when I had done other walks in this area.
Soon the bridleway veered to the left of a large
property and soon we were descending the hillside,
before passing Cutlers Farm on our right. At this
point the bridleway became a lane which passed, via
two bridges, over the lake by Edstone Hall. As we
stopped here to admire the view, we suddenly became
aware of a heron breaking cover from the waterside
reeds and flying into the distance. Needless
to say none of this trio was quick enough to get a
picture of the bird.
We continued and the road that goes between Bearley
Cross and Norton Lindsey was soon reached, where we
turned right.
A few yards walking along the road and on our right
was Newhouse Farm, and on our left a right of way,
which we followed across a field and over the
single track railway line that goes between Hatton
and Bearley West Junction, which are on the
outskirts of Warwick and Stratford on Avon
respectively. Having crossed the line safely,
making sure that the barrier gates were secured
properly – none of us fancied the maximum fine of
£1000 if this task was not completed correctly – we
continued southwards towards Bearley Village.
Up to now the weather
had been beautiful, but now the sky was getting
darker and Mick spotted what looked like rain
coming from the west. Soon after, our path
became overgrown with stinging nettles and
brambles, which we were in the middle of
negotiating, when the first rain spots
arrived. At this point Larry, who was wearing
long trousers, was some distance in front, while
Mick and I, both in shorts, were walking with more
care as the undergrowth was being quite vicious
towards our uncovered legs; and then the rain came
with a vengeance. So Mick and I dived into
the hedgerow, ignoring the nettles, and waited for
the rain to stop, which it did in a very short
time. We then continued on our way through
the now wet vegetation and met up with Larry on the
outskirts of Bearley.
We arrived at the road by the railway bridge, turned left under the bridge, and took a path that went right along the northern side of the railway line. Not the best route; the field, through which our path went, was inhabited by cows. Young inquisitive cows that ran straight at us, but fortunately stopped before trampling us to the ground, which I think is what Larry was expecting. They then started walking just behind and to the side of us and I think we all were relieved, but especially Larry, when a stile was reached and a barrier was then between us and the livestock. Then it was a prickly walk for Mick and me through undergrowth before we emerged on the road to the south of the village of Langley.
Although I’ve lived in
this area all my life I can’t remember having ever
visited, or even having passed through Langley
before. It looked a pleasant and quiet little
community with church and an adjacent church hall
that was constructed in the 19th century.
We considered going
straight to the Red Lion Inn for food and drink,
but it was only 5.30 p.m. and the sun was still
shining. So we had a detour around the
village before we enjoyed a very pleasant meal and
a couple of pints*.
*Larry and
me only as Mick was driving.
The total distance of the walk was just under 8
miles. The map Larry used was the Ordnance Survey
Explorer Map 220 (Birmingham Area).