Friday, 9 May 2014

The Soggy Seven (Part 1)

Seven brave walkers met on a fresh spring Sunday morning to brave the elements and to take on the seventh Redditch and Bromsgrove CAMRA RambAle! Even though it was March, the sun was out shining over the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.
As we started our cruise at a steady 3mph, we weren’t the only ones out that morning. The Hopwood Heron was up and hunting and we spotted him several times circling the canal looking for something to eat. As we approached Bridge 66 it was time to change our route and headed west to our first pub. After passing over Lower Bittell Reservoir we followed a footpath over farmland to reach the Barnt Green Inn, our first port of call. This large merchant house has an excellent patio area, where we all enjoyed Purity UBU, while Wye Valley HPA was also available.

 Our next bearing was south-east; where we climbed Cherry Hill Drive towards the start of the Lickey Hills then followed a footpath down to Barnt Green rail station. It was about this time that the heavens opened and gave us all a good drenching; but fortunately an eagle-eyed member spotted a nice shiny cask in a gazebo in Barnt Green Park. Upon further investigation, it was a local fun run to raise money for Sports Relief; so we did our bit for charity by sampling the Weatheroak Hill IPA on offer while making full use of their shelter!

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