Date: 26th – 29th May 1972
Participants: Graham Beevor, Peter Cox, Phil Knowles, Neal Stuttaford and
Eddy Wilson.
We met at Paddington Station on Friday 26th May and caught the 18.15 to Worcester. At this stage all rucksacks were unnaturally light, containing only tents, billies and primus stoves, plus a minimal amount of personal gear. The plan was to buy our food on the Saturday morning.
Upon arrival at Malvern Link at about 21.00 we were both thirsty and hungry. So we started by setting off to the local hostelry about a mile from the station. Phil and Eddy then had the honour of finding the fish and chip shop, before we all set off to find a campsite for the night, with the time being about 22.45.
We arose at 07.30 for breakfast, prepared by Peter. Once on the road we found a general stores, were the assistant had quite a time keeping up with the rate of ordering, as various items from curries to yoghurts caught our eyes. Having shared out the purchases we loaded our rucksacks, and all feeling fit and ready, we set off on our journey.
The hours up to lunchtime passed without incident apart from the discovery of a pile of several million chicken feathers. It was not long before we decided to climb all over them for a photograph.
Upon arrival at Acton Beauchamp we decided upon lunch, but whilst we were able to enjoy some spectacular views, there was nowhere within the immediate vicinity to have a drink.
Upon being informed by a local that there was a pub ‘arf moile dewnt rowd’ we set off in the direction of Stanford Bishop.
Some time later we found it, boldly displaying the sign ‘No Gipsies or Travellers’. Undaunted we placed our rucksacks outside, combed our matted locks, strode in, ordered and sat down to lunch. At closing time the rucksacks were placed in their normal functional positions and we continued on our way.
The visit to the pub had taken us about three miles out of our way and we had to take another route into Bromyard, which led along a disused railway. Once at Bromyard we decided that it was time for a tea break and stopped at a café for a quick cuppa.
Refreshed we continued on our way. Not only did we use country roads, a good part of the journey was done across country, which although fractionally slower was a lot easier on the feet. Despite rain the going was good with very little mud to hamper progress.
One thing that was apparent during the entire journey was the friendliness of the local people towards us. A good example of this was when we were passing a place known as Yeld House. Peter started a conversation with the people living there and within a few moments they had invited us in for tea and biscuits.
At about 21.00 we decided that it was time to start looking for a campsite, having covered over 20 miles during the day. No villages (or to be more specific, no pubs) were indicated on the map in the area. And we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would have to go without for that evening.
The first farm (Miles Hope) looked a possible campsite and Graham, Phil and Peter knocked at the door, while Eddy and Neal stood by the gate looking innocent. We were given permission to camp in a nearby field. The evening meal consisted of ‘Vesta’ beef curry with rice pudding to follow. We were famished after the day’s hiking and that lot really went down a treat.
Three miles into our Sunday journey we met up with some Scouts of the 1st Worcester Troop at Whitsun camp. They promptly offered us coffee and it transpired that one of their leaders knew one of the Cub Scout Leaders from the 1st Finchley. It’s a small world.
It was not long before we decided to press on towards the next place on the map, Little Hereford, where we hoped to find somewhere to lunch. However, we were unlucky since, as it was Sunday, everywhere was closed. We started to move on having found nowhere to stop for a drink, when Peter and Graham noticed a building on the map labelled ‘The Serpent’. We all agreed that it could possibly be a licensed house. The trouble was that it was 14.00 and we were two miles away from a 14.30 closing time. We made ‘The Serpent’ by 14.25 only to find an old house, so we sat down by the side of the road to eat a dry lunch.
We reached Ludlow by mid-afternoon to find a café open, and so we took half an hour off for another well-earned cuppa.
We decided to make for Culmington in order to leave 10 or 11 miles to cover on the last day, making sure that we caught the train back. It was on the approach to Culmington that a nasty experience befell us.
Many of our routes had taken us through fields of cows and so another field of black and white animals was passed off as routine. Halfway across one field each of us had wished that we had taken more notice. They were not cows; they were bulls that seemed to have taken a dislike to us. A particularly mean-looking specimen started to follow us, at first only making grunting noises. Phil armed himself with a piece of rotten wood. At this point the bull started kicking it’s hind legs and became unpleasantly frisky, so Phil dropped his armament and joined the rest of us in beating a retreat over a barbed wire fence.
We reached Culmington by early evening on a road that ended next to the local and we decided to have a drink to calm our nerves before pitching camp.
Monday dawned, and we had to reach Church Stretton by 17.15 to catch the train. With only 11 miles to go this seemed a not too difficult task. Once through the jungle that was Wolverton Wood it was fairly easy going, although Eddy had developed a painful swollen ankle and Phil, whilst trying to negotiate a tangle of barbed wire, ripped his trousers and his leg.
After a lunch of Mars bars and crisps we struggled into Church Stretton at 16.00, said goodbye to Eddy who was going home to Southampton on an earlier train, and went for coffee at a nearby café.
The train was on time (amazingly) and we boarded for Shrewsbury where we were given 5 minutes to get off the train, re-book to Euston, and catch the train to Wolverhampton. We changed trains there arriving at Euston at about 21.00, aching and tired, having hiked through 50 miles of what must be some of the most beautiful countryside in England.