Hanbury Circular Walk

On Saturday 26th August I decided to go for a hike around Worcestershire.  There are some excellent circular routes listed on the council website, and the one I chose first was the Hanbury Circular Walk.

I decided to get Will off the settee and away from Minecraft too, so told him we were off 'exploring' - he's wary of me saying we're off for a 'walk', so this made things sound more exciting.  I'm not sure I'll get away with that trick again though.

I put an extra 5kg into my backpack, making it up to 15kg to compensate for his little legs, and we set off in the car to the start point:  Gateway Park on the Droitwich canal.

It's an 11km hike, initially going past a series of three deep locks, before joining the Worcester/Birmingham canal for a few km.  The route is very well marked and equally well trodden (which led to a false sense of security on my subsequent trek), and I managed it in flip-flops and a pair of shorts.  I took my OS map, but aside from a bit of map-reading practice to brush up, there was really no requirement for it.  The leaflet on the council website has a small map and instructions which are more than adequate.

​The views over the countryside are stunning.  The photo opposite shows the view North, but there are equally good ones South, with the Malvern Hills in the background.

The terrain is generally easy-going (certainly in the dry weather), though there is a fairly steep hill up towards a church at one point which got me puffing.  Then there is a gentle downward slope towards Hanbury Hall, which certainly looked impressive from outside.

You don't go through any villages or past any shops/pubs during the walk, so arriving back at the Eagle pub (400 meters away from the start point) was a good excuse for a beer and ice cream for me and Will respectively.