Malvern Hills

With excellent weather conditions (clear blue skies and bright sunshine) arrangements were made to travel to the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border to climb the highest peak in Southern England.

Butterballs had a chest infection, RGB had a golf commitment and the Super-fit fifty-something from Cynon Valley was in work. So it was the Duke of Twynyrodyn and Wandering who left the Principality at 9.00am, arriving at the British Camp car park 75 minutes later.

A previous visit to British Camp in August 2010, contains all of the historical details of the site and it was the Duke who posed at the top of the Herefordshire Beacon (at 383 metres) before Wandering decided to head off in completely the wrong direction! He quickly defended his decision by explaining to the Duke that it was important to seek the source of the walk past Hangman Hill and Broad Down.



So it was a case of 'there and back again' to the car park, across the road past the Malvern Hills Hotel and an hour after starting the walk we began the climb of Black Hill, the first peak of the Malvern Hills that stretched out in the distance like a dragons back, dominating the Severn plain.

After reaching the top of Black Hill we could see that the thermal currents above Pinnacle Hill had attracted a large number of para-scenders. With 15 in the skies above Little Malvern and more climbing the hills to join in the fun, we decided to take our first break of the day to watch the entertainment.



A plaque advised us that the Duke of York had officially attended the re-naming of Jubilee Hill in 2002, to mark the year of the Queens accession to the throne 50 years earlier. The next section was the ascent of Perseverance Hill.

After crossing the Upper Wyche Road (B4218) to climb the last peak (with the longest approach ascent!) the number of people walking the hills dramatically decreased and it wasn't too long before we were able to reach the Worcestershire Beacon (at 425 metres) that marks the highest spot of the Malvern Hills.



Both Elgar who wrote his Enigma Variations in the shadows of the hills and Tolkien, who visited the area frequently, have both taken inspiration from the surroundings.

The beacon itself was probably a fitting tribute to a spectacular location with stunning views across Herefordshire, Powys, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. All along the ridge you were able to see the town of Greater Malvern with the Three Counties Showground nestling at the base of the Hills and the farmland of Herefordshire rolling west to the Welsh border.



Leaving the Worcestershire Beacon we descended to St. Anns Well for light refreshments but it was closed - only opening on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays - so we continued our journey into Malvern itself. Finding a quaint tea-room where we enjoyed fruit cake and ginseng served in very 'camp' surroundings!



A quick visit to the Tourist Information Centre to establish the times of the bus to take us back to the start point and we returned to British Camp after an extremely cheap bus journey and a short walk by 4.00pm.



Beverages were quaffed in the Malvern Hills Hotel before the journey back to the Pearl of the Valleys via Ledbury in the late afternoon sunshine after an extremely enjoyable day.

Photographs taken on this walk can be viewed here. Select 'slide-show' for automated viewing.