Gothersley walk

My latest game for myself: after a number of minutes driving, take the next footpath I come to, for an out and back walk.
Thus, I arrived here, in Greensforge Lane, near Kinver. I had the choice of taking the bridle path to the canal,...

...or left up this unpromising, litter-strewn path.

The path climbs quite steeply, and quickly gets better

 This is deep into horse territory

The later path was more pleasant

The bright green hawthorn was showing through

These two riders posed for a photo for me!

Then they went off for a hack

Lovely countryside to ride through

Through the trees, Gothersley Hall

The grass was greening up too

This is the headquarters of Gothersley Stables - they seem to have 50 or 60 horses, at a guess.

Coming back, I was able to look at the views. The horses have some fine one from their paddock. On the skyline is the chimney from Baggeridge Brickworks, scene of my last walk.

This way, the views are over to the Clent Hills

The trees seem to be all colours 

As I got back to the car, the sky began to cloud over

The horse fields run all along Greensforge Lane, where I had parked my car. 

Today's Walk: park halfway along Greensforge Lane, near Kinver, and take the bridle path which goes uphill towards the Million woodland. It's about half a mile to the best viewpoints, so it's only a mile altogether, unless you want to extend it.

.

 

Baggeridge 2 - a pool, aerial ropes, and a memorial

Continuing my Baggeridge walk, I went to the romantically named Bag Pool. 

There are some older pools nearer to Himley, but this was made when the old mine-workings were turned into a park.

The Brickworks chimney is visible from here too.

Bag Pool is now a popular spot for families to feed ducks.

Daffodils at the pool's edge 

Right on the skyline, a tiny bump - the Toposcope, nearly 300 feet higher

The flat area was getting a new path surface.

Some modern sculptures: this is a miner excavating the coal seam while on a ladder 

A rusty old coal truck

This looks fun: Closer to the Edge's aerial ropes course

You can just see part of it here

These woods will soon be full of bluebells:those are all the leaves.

And this was a surprise: a memorial garden, complete with a blossoming tree.

It's a war memorial to Staffordshire's armed forces soldiers

The plaque lying down details the parishes and villages of South Staffs whose personnel are commemorated.

Today's route: just an amble round Baggeridge Coutnry Park. It's quite hilly, with lots of waymarked paths: you could easily cover two or three miles - some of it over demanding terrain if you choose, or softer paths if that's more your thing!

Baggeridge Park - a wild and hilly place

Although it's so close, I have never been to Baggeridge Park before (apart from for the Schools' Cross Country, when I have been so cold and muddy I didn't look around me at all!)
These primroses were right by the car park.

As is the bandstand

The park is just into Staffordshire (rather than in Dudley, as I had thought), and the Staffordshire Knot is there on the bandstand.

A flowering currant in the wild. Spring is well and truly on the way.

The chimney from Baggeridge Brickworks, which are on the edge of the park.

The miniature railway.

The chimney is on the skyline: it can certainly be seen from Kinver Edge, and I suspect a great deal further away too.

There are plenty of walks: I only had time for one major one. The sign has the magic word "toposcope". I can never resist them!

The path up to it is quite steep.

View from half way up. All of this area was originally a large opencast coal mine, mining the thickest coal seam in the country (it was 10 metres thick)

From the summit, you can see the modern development which will be called Baggeridge Village

Here's the Toposcope

The views are fantastic. That's the Wrekin, Shropshire, on the skyline

Worcestershire's Clent Hills this way

Over to Sedgley church, in Dudley.

Titterstone Clee (left) and Brown Clee (right). Behind them should be the Black Mountains in Wales, but it wasn't clear enough to see them.

More tomorrow from this fascinating park. What great use of an old mining site. I have to say, I didn't realise that was what it was till I read about it afterwards.

Today's walk: I walked map-free, just following the tracks on the ground.