Length: 18.8 km (11.7 mi) [shorter and longer versions
possible, see below]
Ascent/Descent: 820/865m
Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours
Toughness: 7 out of 10
Take the 09.18 Hereford train from Great Malvern, arrives Colwall
09.23.
This version of the walk will help you to cover all but four of the 22
notable hilltops in the range over the two days of walking the Malvern Hills.
You are starting out along fields and through oak woods at the westerly base of
the hills to then return north to Malvern along the top of the ridge. From the blurb: “The Malvern Hills stand majestically above the Severn
Plain in Worcestershire and the rolling wooded hills of Herefordshire, offering
far reaching panoramic views across a variety of landscapes from a multitude of
viewpoints. The area is famed for its steep dramatic hills rising out of flat
vales and for the pure spring water that flows from them, but it also offers a
rich cultural heritage of forts, castles and priories in a landscape of ancient
woodland, rolling pastures and wild, open commons.”
Walk Options:
A Shortcut at the Silurian Pass cuts the
tops south of British Camp and 5.2 km/3.2 mi and 305m ascent.
An Extension to the two southerly tops adds 3.4 km/2.1 mi and 180m
ascent.
Finish at The Malvern Hills Hotel and take a taxi back.
An Extension to the four northerly tops adds 2.0 km/1.2 mi and 111m ascent (same as on Friday’s walk).
Lunch: The Malvern Hills Hotel & Restaurant (food all day) and Sally’s Place (food all day), both either 2.7
km/1.7 mi into the walk if taking the early diversion, or 10.9 km/6.8 mi on the
full walk.
Tea en route: The Wyche Inn (open all
day, food served to 15.00 only) and Café
H2O (open to 16.30 when last checked). Both are 4.1 km/2.5 mi
from the end of the walk.
Tea in Great Malvern: Plentiful options. Check the webpage or the pdf for details.
For walk directions, map, height profile , photos
and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.324.a
2 comments:
5 having coffee in Malvern Hills hotel after negotiating path completely obliterated by tree felling
All n=15 punters were out initially for this walk, which was rather attritional in the conditions...
We woke up to clear skies with fluffy clouds, boarded the train with darker clouds moving in and got off to the first rain drops. They quickly developed into hard rain that lasted for 3 hours and led 1 walker to turn back after 30 mins or so. 5 others took the 500m escape route to the Malvern Hills Hotel as a cue to an unofficial shortcut. We later heard of them having a drink at the Wyche Inn, so presumably they did some version of this route?
The remaining 9 marched on, now mainly under trees which made no difference to getting wet though. Unsurprisingly, no one was keen on the southerly extension.
Up on Midsummer Hill, the leader took the wrong descent route, which was steeper than the correct one, had about 10 fallen trees strung across it at various body heights which favoured the yoga and tai chi steeled fairer gender and also had a fair few slippery stretches. Much to my surprise, most seemed to enjoy this obstacle course of sorts and there have been no deadly stares aimed at the leader for choosing it.
Not long after , we got to the MH Hotel (only 2 had gone over The British Camp en route), dripping wet from all layers, but the amazing staff were not fazed and we had a lovely meal at a large table in our very own corner.
While there, the rain stopped, even some sunshine broke through and it mostly stayed that way once we got going again.
3 then chose the lower route from the Gold Mine Dial, with the other 6 going over the tops. Some very heavy and dark bands of clouds could be seen moving in but they rained off over the Black Mountains and further north, not where we were.
2 walked the northerly extension, 4 not. Back in Gt Malvern around 6.
W=hard-rain-and-rolling-thunder-for-three-hours-then-driving-clouds-clearing-to-cloudy-with-a-bit-of-sun
No rainbows.
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