Worcester

Enjoy it while you can, before it disappears under concrete and tarmac. The emphasis is on the landscape, and there are some lovely views of the Malverns, but the walk also includes places of historic interest.

FACT FILE

Start: Worcester Bridge, grid ref SO846547.

Length: 11 miles/17.5km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, arable, orchard, woodland; no hills of any consequence.

Footpaths: Mostly excellent, but one is overgrown with nettles and another blocked by sugar beet.

Stiles: 10.

Buses: This is quite a long walk but it’s easily shortened, if preferred, as it crosses many bus routes, eg 21, 22, 25, 31, 39, 44, 294, 295, 300, 308, 309, 310, 363, 417, 420 and 758.

Refreshments: Café just upstream from Worcester Bridge, pubs and shop at Lower Broadheath, coffee shop at Laylocks Garden Centre on A44, pub by Bransford Bridge. There is often a snack van in the layby at Bransford Bridge.

DIRECTIONS

1 Walk upstream, beginning on either bank of the river but ensuring you’re on the west bank (on the Severn Way) once past Sabrina Bridge. Before long you’ll have left the last of the houses behind, beyond which point the towpath is mostly bordered by extensive areas of willow coppice.

After passing the willows you’ll pass a group of poplars to arrive at a clearing where an unsigned but well-trodden path goes left. Follow it to a road and turn right to Hallow Road.

2 Cross to Monarch Drive, walk along it for about 300m and then take a path on the right. Descend steps to a footbridge, cross Laughern Brook and follow the brook to a field. Turn left to join a bridleway and walk up the field edge to a gate. Go through it to join a track running past Eastbury Manor. Ignore a cross-path and follow the track until it bends left.

Keep on along the bridleway, going through a field, across Lovington Lane and on through another field to meet Martley Road.

3 Turn right then cross over after a few paces to take the second of two footpaths – number 25, which is also a private road. Pass some houses then continue through trees to enter a large field. Go straight across to meet a hedge corner. Go left along the field edge.

Ignore a path branching right after a short distance and keep going along the field edge until another path gives access to Bell Lane.

Turn left, walk to Broadheath Common and go straight across it, meeting Crown East Lane between two sets of goalposts at the far side of the common.

4 Join a bridleway to Upper Lightwood Farm. Carry straight on through the farmyard and swing left soon after leaving the farm behind. The well-defined track is easily followed through fields. When it eventually comes to an end just continue in the same direction along a field edge to reach the A44. Cross the road and take a footpath to the left of Laylocks. Overgrown with nettles and brambles at first, it passes through woodland then continues straight on for 300m until you have to turn right in the corner of a pasture. Walk to the next corner then go down to Lower Howsen to meet a bridleway. Turn left, following the bridleway to Otherton Lane.

5 Take a footpath which descends a slope to a stile. Cut across the next field to a hedge corner then continue in the same direction to a gate/stile. You should then be able to keep on in the same direction across another field to meet the A4103 by Bransford Bridge.

However, the path is densely overcropped with sugar beet – use it if you can (and please report the obstruction to the county council) but if you can’t manage it you’ll have to turn left to the road instead.

Turn left to the far end of a layby and join a footpath which follows the River Teme. After passing a poplar plantation you’ll walk through a long meadow below a wooded bank. The path gradually rises up the bank to a point where you can cross the railway.

6 Walk through woodland then continue through farmland on a well-defined track which eventually leads to Upper Wick.

Keep roughly straight on, past Upper Wick Farm and Upper Wick Cottage, then take a path signed to Powick Ham. Walk through a cherry orchard to a footbridge at the far side then proceed to another stile giving access to a meadow. The bypass is in front of you now and there are three tunnels underneath it. According to the OS map, the right of way bears right away from the field edge to go through the middle tunnel, but the paths which lead through the other two tunnels are much more heavily used. Cross the next field – again, there is a choice of paths, but the right of way is the one which passes close by a pylon – and proceed to Old Powick Bridge.

7 Turn left across the bridge then take a footpath on the right (Monarch’s Way). This follows the river Teme to its confluence with the Severn and then follows the Severn upstream to Worcester Bridge. Unfortunately, it’s possible you may find this path temporarily closed for bridge repairs. If so, the best alternative is to walk up the road to Lower Wick Island then take Bromwich Road until you can turn right along Weir Road to the Severn.

Worcester News recommends the use of OS Explorer Maps, your ideal passport to navigating the countryside. This walk is based on OS Explorer 204.