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BirminghamWalk Details: The Walk: |
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We needed a break on the way up, and therefore pulled off of the M42 to bag the Birmingham top – on our previous trip to the West Midlands we hadn’t had time to bag this one. We parked at the public car park on Monument Lane, near the top of Beacon Hill, and stepped out into a bitterly cold wind. The names “monument” and “beacon” gave the impression that there was something significant on the hill; we decided to save whatever it was as a treat for the end of this walk. Instead we turned onto a road coincidentally called Beacon Hill, and then took a steep and slippery path which led down through woods parallel to the wood – ironically the county top of Birmingham was lower than our starting point in Worcestershire. A right turn took us briefly onto a path along the edge of a golf course before entering a housing estate. It was still only 9am, and being a Saturday few people were up. It was odd to be walking around a housing estate with the postmen and early morning joggers – tranquil and somehow friendly. It was enough to make me want to get up early each morning (although not enough to make me actually do so!). We weren’t in the houses for long; we were soon following what looked like a private road which looked from the map like it would lead us to our destination of Rednal Hill. In fact, it turned out to run along the base of the hill, and was actually a driveway leading to a house. There was a bridleway leading off to the right of the house, but we needed to go left.
We didn’t want to scramble back down the way we come, and so therefore followed the crest of the ridge upward towards the Lickey Hills. We soon came to a path that ran down behind the house and back to the golf course we’d skirted earlier. Though boggy at first, the path took us across the golf course and up through woods on the lower slope of Beacon Hill. Near the top of Beacon Hill we found the local trig point; beyond it at the crest of the hill was something a bit special. A small castle had been built as a viewpoint. It had turrets, archways and panels around the edge with a description of features of the view inscribed in them. Being a little higher than Rednal Hill, the views were even better. The car was only a hundred metres or so away. It had been a good break from driving, but we were keen to be on our way to the next top in Trafford. I’d certainly say to anyone planning to bag the Birmingham top that it’s worth extending your walk into Worcestershire to pick up Beacon Hill while you’re there.
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For Jim’s birthday weekend we had planned
a bagging extravaganza. We were off to Merseyside and Manchester to try
and bag a record twenty county tops in one trip. We were deliberately
aiming for an area with a lot of low tops close together, partly to up
the numbers and partly to meet our aim for the year of clearing as many
of the low “boring” tops as possible.
We
scrambled up a steep slope, initially through woods but soon forcing our
way through low bilberry bushes covered in dew that soaked us up to our
knees. We were quite warm by the time we reached the top of the ridge,
but it was worth it for the view. There lay out below us was the whole
of Birmingham, the view slightly marred by the enormous factory in the
immediate foreground. Behind us we could see our starting point, Beacon
Hill. The highest point in Birmingham is not marked by anything obvious;
looking at the map we felt that the unitary authority boundary ran across
the crest of the ridge near a small copse of trees to our left, and wandered
down there to take the summit photos.