The Severn valley above Bewdley

The Severn above Arley

Saturday 20th April - warmest, sunniest day of the trip, though very hazy first thing in the morning. Left the cottage at Richard’s Castle about half-eight and headed over to Bewdley to revisit the River Severn and  walk north from here towards Arley. Took the road which goes up the south side of Clee Hill,  passing close to the quarry to the south of the top of Titterstone Clee Hill. Pity that it was too hazy to fully appreciate the view from here.

Got to Bewdley by about half-nine, but already very busy, the car park near the river filling up.  Good to get away from the crowds, along the quieter stretches of the river. Walked to Arley, then about another mile north from there, along the west side of the river. The riverside paths ran close to the Severn Valley Railway. Don’t know if there was anything special on, but there seemed to be quite a few trains chugging up and down the line. CC.Eng took quite a few photos. 

Former railway crossing over the Severn above Bewdley

Leaving Bewdley,  we passed the pillars of the old railway bridge, the the eastern edge of the Wyre Forest on our left. On the farside of the river, the EA’s flow gauge. Don’t know how many cubic metres per second were running through here today, but the current was strong. Not running as fast as in Ironbridge Gorge yesterday, but it still looked stronger than usual for the time of year. Again quite a bit of debris along the banks from the winter floods, particularly near Seckley Wood, opposite the Trimpley Reservoir.

Flood debris along the Severn, Seckley Wood

On the far side of the river here, a man was throwing sticks in the water for his Labradors. He threw one out into the middle of the river. Though it was shallow here, the dog struggled against the current, before drifting with it a few metres downstream and managing to clamber back up onto the bank.  There were landslips on the steep slope here, too, with quite a few trees down. Had to clamber over the trunk of one which had blown across the path. There were a few muddy bits of path in places, but despite all the flooding, the path was generally drier, certainly drier than anything closer to home over the winter. Just before the woods, went under the aqueduct carrying the pipes taking water to Birmingham from the Elan Valley reservoirs in mid-Wales. Then, after the woods, under the Victoria Railway Bridge. Saw from inscription this iron bridge was built by the Coalbrokedale Company in 1861, two years before the Edward Albert Bridge at Buildwas, with the same design / construction.

Arley

At Arley, crossed the bridge to the village shop, confusing the lady, new there, by buying bananas. Fairly busy here as well. Then crossed back over to the west side of river and carried on upriver for about another mile. Here, the path ran above the river, on a sloping bank. There was a bit very close to the railway, enabling train photos. I meanwhile, sketched the view upriver through the trees, then the fields and red soil on the hillside across the river. Geology here mostly Permian and upper Carboniferous. Complicated outcrop of sediments shown on the BGS online map viewer. After a lunch stop here, walked back to the Arley bridge, crossed it and continued back to Bewdley on the east side of the river. Went back under the Victoria Bridge, the area on this side wooded and walked up the hill to view Trimpley Reservoir. A sailing club, several yachts on the water beyond the tower. A sign on the waters edge near us took no chances, warning of hazards in various weather conditions, urging people not to “jump into the unknown”, i.e. unknown hazards when jumping in the water.  Warnings, too of algal blooms in hot weather, ice in winter. The water here is extracted from the River Severn.

Reflections in the Severn near Victoria Bridge

From here on, much of the path went away from the river. Passed over the aqueduct this time, where the covered pipes disappeared into the hillside. Then through the chalet park. 

Back in Bewdley, we crossed the road bridge. Now very busy here, with stalls along the river, as well as the funfair in the car park. After a quick ice cream, headed over to our B&B on the edge of the Cotswolds, near Evesham and Broadway. The drive was fiddly, involving several backroads and no direct route. This was partly to avoid Saturday afternoon busyness in places such as Stourport and Kidderminster, though  we accidentally found ourselves going through Worcester. 

Links

National river Flow Archive - flow data from the Bewdley gauge, to 2011
http://www.ceh.ac.uk/data/nrfa/ | accessed 24/04/13

Environment Agency
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/default.aspx