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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Sunday 21 July 2019

Sunday Walk - The Malvern Hills from Colwall (Colwall to Great Malvern)

Length: 18.8 km (11.7 mi) [shorter and longer versions possible, see below]
Ascent/Descent:  804/849m; Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours
Toughness:  9 out of 10 

From the direction of Worcester take the 09.06 Hereford train from Worcester Shrub Hill (calls Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern  (09.21), arrives Colwall 09.26.
Form the direction of Hereford take the 10.05 Birmingham New Street train (Ledbury 10.22), arrives Colwall 10.28.
From London take the 08.48 Hereford train from Paddington (Slough 09.02, Reading 09.20, Great Malvern 11.20), arrives Colwall 11.25. With a Network Railcard (valid to Worcester Stations), buy split tickets (unless you have secured a cheap Advance Ticket).
(Direct) Return trains from Great Malvern: 15.05, 17.04, 19.12, 20.10 (from 166 mins). There are also several indirect, and often cheaper options.

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. 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.
An Extension to the four northerly tops adds 2.0 km/1.2 mi and 111m ascent (same as on Saturday’s walk).
Finish at The Malvern Hills Hotel and take a taxi back.

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 19.30) and Café H2O  (open to 16.30). Both are 4.1 km/2.5 mi from the end of the walk.
Tea in Great Malvern: Plentyful 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

6 comments:

Thomas G said...

Due to a change of plan for one walker, a couple of cheap Advance tickets for the 19.12 return train are available (£20.00 for two). They are only valid though with a Two Together-Card and for two people travelling together! If interested, send an email to me (if you have my address) or to saturdaywalkersatyahoodotcodotuk

a.cesco said...

Hi,
I read that it is a 'self led' hiking.
Does it mean there's no an organizer at Colwall station?
How can I recognize the other members of the group?
How can we know when all the members of the group have reached the rendez-vous?
Thank you
Andrea

Thomas G said...

Hi. Quite straightforward: we will be 20+ walkers getting off the 9.26 train at Colwall, grouping up on the platform. Our walks are self led insofar as you are expected to have the written directions printed out or at least the GPX route downloaded, so that you can walk your own pace should you want to. There are no formal leaders. And the group often subdivide into groups walking different paces or variations of the route.

Walker said...

There may not be 20 if she is taking the train from Paddington, Thomas. There are 20 of us staying in the area, who will do the earlier start. How many will travel from Paddington for the 11.25 start is uncertain, especially as it requires an unusually early start from London.

Thomas G said...

n=27 today, 17 of those walking the southerly extension (with some pretty steep bits), about a handful the posted 18km norm walk, and the rest some shortcut, mostly by turning left at the Silurian Pass and cutting out any hills south of British Camp.
The weather was dry and sunny with passing clouds, meaning very far views: from the ridge we could not only see cloud-free Black Mountains and Cotswolds (and Bredon Hill anyway), but also some ranges in Mid-Wales, the Wrekin and other Shropshire hills, etc.
The very different outbound route compared to yesterday seemed to find favour, justifying the separate posting. A few bailed out by taxi from The Malvern Hills Hotel lunch stop, not feeling well, one explored an alternative finish to Ledbury, but most of the rest did not mind re-doing the core ridge walk between Herefordshire and Worcestershire Beacons.

All in, 30 different SWC-folk in total over the three days.

Thomas G said...

W=dry-and-sunny-with-passing-clouds