Sandwell & Former West Midlands

Walk Details:
Date: 13/11/2004
Total ascent: 101m/ 331ft
Total distance walked: 1.81 miles
Walk difficulty: 2.5/10
Enjoyment rating: 5/10
Best bits: First night-time ascent, great night-time views of the Midlands
Worst bits: Err… couldn't actually see what we were doing, couldn't really see what the hill was like.
Car Parking: There's an official car park on the B4171 Dudley Road at grid reference SO 956 886, which closes at dusk.

Top details:
Name: Turner's Hill
County top number: 27 & 28 of 207
Grid reference: SO 96750 88715 MAP
Height above sea level: 271m/ 889ft
How nice was it?: 3/10 for the top, 4/10 for the ascent
Description/Notes: Highest point in Sandwell Unitary Authority, highest point in former county of West Midlands.

The Walk:

The sun had almost set by the time we left our previous top of the day (Tansley Hill in Dudley), but we'd decided we could fit in another hill before we headed back to the NEC to pick up my wife and sister-in-law from their craft show. Turner's Hill counted as two tops and would take our tally for the day up to eight tops, seven hills and seven authorities - in each case a new record for one day.

We somehow managed to get lost in the kilometre or so from Tansley Hill, but after retracing our route ended up in the public car park at the base of Turner's Hill to find that it shut at dusk. As it was distinctly dusky, we decided not to park there and left the car at a nearby pub instead.

We walked southeast down the B4171 to reach the nearest path up the hillside, which leaves the road at SO 962 881. The original path access appears to run up a narrow gap between a house and a garage block and is overgrown to the point of impassibility. It's easier to go a little further down the road and take the next left turn, up a rutted muddy drive under the disapproving gaze of nearby householders. The drive curves round the back of the garages and rejoins the path, which from hereon in was fairly well used.

The path up the hill was quite steep and passed first through a field containing a Shetland pony, then through a muddy wade before finally emerging onto a golf course. We paused for breath and to look back over the view. It was now almost completely dark and the lights of Dudley were surprisingly stunning - all the more so because in the photos they made it look like Dudley was a smouldering heap of embers! Fireworks were going off in several places, a fitting testament, we felt, to our achievement of bagging eight tops in one day.

To deserve this accolade, though, we first of all had to reach the top of Turner's Hill. Being dark, we were guided by the GPS, which in turn was lit by our mobile phone lights (I'd stupidly switched off the GPS light to save batteries and in the dark I couldn't work out how to turn it back on again!) - all in all a triumph of technology!

Wandering round the edge of the golf course, we came to the service road leading to the radio mast station - from here we could see views of Birmingham off the other side of the hill too. Following the road around the edge of the station, we came to the station gates - very high, very strong and very locked. We were pretty much at the top anyway, and it was now dark and we could see very little.

We decided that this would do us for this top, and headed back to the car. We'd have liked to complete a circular route and return via a different path, but it was so dark that we struggled finding our way back down the way we'd come up - we both got stung when we accidentally strayed off course.

Still, we'd managed our first night-time ascent, and in doing so had completed an unexpected eight tops in one day - a new record for us (for the time being…). Overall the Midlands tops had been far better than expected, and we'd had a damn good day out!

Conclusion:
We can't really tell you what this hill was like, given that it was dark for nearly the entire time. Obviously being topped by a golf course and radio masts isn't that great (the OS map also shows quarrying), and the very top metre or so of the hill is firmly locked away with the masts. However, the night-time views of Birmingham and Dudley were top-notch, so I'm guessing that it'd be good in daytime too - enjoyable for Midlanders to walk for views of their cityscapes; maybe not one for the serious hillwalker.