Wollaston - there's always a walk near you, wherever you are.

It was late afternoon, I'd been busy, and I needed to walk.

I decided I'd take the first footpath sign I saw. It was in Wollaston, near Stourbridge. Just at the edge of housing. Not necessarily the most promising place

I started at the Foresters' Arms. I'd driven past it hundreds of times before.

Just past it, I climbed this bank, to find myself well above the traffic,

...and into these woods. They aren't named on the maps, but maybe they are locally. They run along a high sandstone ridge.

Between the leaves, there are quite far-reaching views.

This picture shows the Sheepwalks in the distance, Stourbridge Rugby Club on the right, and High Park Farm in the centre. 

The view from further along

There was a rather unsightly concrete structure along hte route 

 No clue as to its origins

The wood is crisscrossed with sandy paths, and you can make your own route through. I liked this double jump for mountain bikes.

The path came out onto the road which leads to Whittington - subject of earlier blogs

I crossed the road. Looking back, the woods had run parallel to a local secondary school.

And, although there was no footpath sign, next to these houses there were clearly used paths in the fields leading straight on in the same direction

More far reaching views

The white building is the the Round Hill sewage treatment works

This path led to a sandy lane

And this. I thought it was Round Hill - you can see why.

But checking on the map later, it wasn't Round Hill at all, just a round hill

I returned the same way. This time, I got a better view of the pigs.

For the whole route, I had barely been more than 200 metres from housing, and yet there were great views and plenty to see. You truly can walk anywhere.

Today's route: Starting by the Foresters' Arms in Wollaston, I walked through the woods, pretty much south the whole way, crossing a minor road, and a sandy track, as far as the hill which I wrongly thought was Round Hill (I hadn't got a map). The walk is easy, if a bit hilly, and the paths are well walked and easy to follow. It was 2.7 miles, but the path carried on, so you could extend it.