Railway, River, Woods and Water

Arley, Pound Green, Buttonoak & Trimpley Walk
Crossing the footbridge from Upper Arley we followed a steep incline through a field to the northern side of Arley Severn Valley Railway Station. Carefully crossing the railway line we continued on through a small gate and wandered uphill past Skeets Farm where across the farm track we meandered through a field a sheep. Skirting a small woodland the trail continued uphill before arriving at Nib Green at the edge of Forestry Commission Coniferous Woodland.
Following quiet roads and then tracks we walked through Pound Green Common to Pound Green Wood which eventually bought us out on the B4194 at Buttonoak on the edge of the Wyre Forest.
Passing "The Buttonoak", the local pub, we looped back to Pound Green following tracks and roads back to the river.
Re-crossing the footbridge, there was the option to finish the walk at that point. However, most of us opted to continue and followed the riverside path, part of the Severn Way, to Trimpley Reservoir.
Circumnavigating the reservoir we followed the trails through Eymore Wood rejoining the Severn Way again at Worrall's Grove before ending the walk at a small shop in the village selling icecream.

Barrow Hill: The Dudley Volcano

During a cold & damp Sunday morning we joined a geological-ecological walk around a local nature reserve in Dudley. Near Russells Hall Hospital is a little-known patch of green with a dome shaped hill and a large cross on its summit. Barrow Hill is part of a former volcano where molten magma has penetrated the surrounding coal measures. Starting from St. Marks Church, we followed a trail first to the summit then round quarries, passing fields slowly being restored to their former wildlife friendly meadow status. The route of the Pensnett Railway once ran through the area, now known as the Barrow Hill Incline. Quarrying was undertaken to provide stone for local (turnpike) roads. Adjacent to Barrow Hill is the Tansey Green Claypit where the stems of fossil conifers have been discovered buried in ash deposits. Controlled grazing is helping to develop the wild meadows and we have been advised to return in the summer to see the flowering wildflowers and the bees & butterflies that are attracted to them.