Halesowen walk - Macdonalds(!) to Leasowes

Walking away from the Halesowen MacDonalds(!) I soon reached this - a disused piece of the Lapal Canal leading me back towards Leasowes Park

 This is the official start/end of the canal currently

It soon fills up with water, though I'm not certain if it would be navigable - it only looked about a foot deep.

The canal is on a considerable embankment: you can see the tops of these warehouses

Another group of ramblers. These were heading for the William Shenstone pub, apparently. Made me feel better about the Big Mac anyway.

Reaching Leasowes, I walked past Priory Pool, another artificial landscape-enhancing addition. Very atttractive, though. I felt I was getting the hang of William Shenstone's ideas

These birds are even more friendly than the ones I'm used to at Himley.

These children were having a great time exploring

 A rustic bridge

I went back to the start of the walk. This was the original, tree-lined entrance to the house and gardens

And on Mucklow Hill itself, there was this splendid example of hedge-laying

So, about this walk:

I can find no copies of the Shenstone Way booklet which I used for the walk. It's not signposted at all, and is impassable in parts. It was supposed to be 3 miles, but I walked considerably further. If you really want to do it, you can email me at the address in the yellow box below and I'll scan you a copy. (But I don't think it's worth walking really)
Alternatively, there is a walk on Dudley Council's website which goes through Leasowes and Combeswood which you can try (I've got a PDF version if you would like it.) I'll walk it in better weather, so you can see how beautiful it is.