Kidhag two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Kidhag here.

I did this walk from Kidderminster to Hagley, with David Sanderson, and am struggling to add to his comprehensive review. I was anticipating a fairly functional walk, on, mostly, long urban pavements, but was surprised at the number of good off road paths through very pleasant countryside. The central section along the A456 was the least enjoyable but even that felt safe and secure as the pavements were generally quite wide and I felt well separated from the traffic. There are quite good bus and rail transport links, two pubs and a shop in Blakedown which is about half-way and at both ends of the walk, in Hagley and in Kidderminster, there are many shops, cafes, pubs and a greater selection of rail and bus links. All in all a very much more pleasing walk than I was expecting.

A route we started from the Kidderminster end. The first section of the walk is a wander along the pavements of commercial and then residential Kidderminster. There are crossings and there are pavements throughout. The move into the countryside is marked. There is a very brief bit of lane walking on Hurcott Road before entering a field where there is the marked path, which this route follows, but also a worn path which the locals seem to use. The fence between them has collapsed. Reaching the other end you enter Hurcott Lane which is a narrow lane with no pavement. It's used as a rat run by locals (including my own uncle) to get from the Birmingham Road to the Stourbridge Road, avoiding sets of traffic lights. As a consequence this mercifully short section requires care. The lane itself opens out and you are very soon in the village (site of an old paper mill). You leave the village and join the woodland trail through Hurcott Wood, a highlight of the walk. Leaving the woods you join the quiet and wider Deansford Lane as far as the A456 which is the halfway mark. The road is busy and fast but the pavement is reasonably wide. It's not a particularly nice section of the walk but it does feel safe, all the way to Blakedown. The village itself is still along the busy A456 but does offer numerous stopping options as well as links to bus routes and the railway station which has trains to Worcester, Birmingham, Solihull and Stratford upon Avon. The section of pavement beyond the end of the village is probably the least enjoyable section of the walk, but the benefits of the village compensate for that. Leaving the pavement, you are back on the trail, gently climbing into the Worcestershire countryside and Hagley is not far away. The section through to the meeting point by the railway station is mainly residential and does not offer much in the way of interest, but there are plenty of stops and shops on the other side of the park from the end of the walk. This route is direct, safe, varied, easy to follow and well connected and supplied. Only about half of it is offroad but it does a decent job with a dearth of local rights of way.

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