Birmingham Ramblers Wednesday walk on 7 June 2023

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DURATION OF THIS EVENT SHOWN ABOVE IS ONLY APPROXIMATE AND CANNOT BE GUARANTEED; IT WILL DEPEND ON FACTORS SUCH AS THE WEATHER AND THE WALKING PACE OF THE GROUP.

Our Wednesday walks include a lunchtime pub stop. Requirements for meals from the pub menu are usually requested and ordered before the start of the walk by the leader. Walkers who prefer to take a picnic lunch are welcome to do so and the leader will have a place designated for this somewhere near the pub, in the village, or in the area where we are stopping for lunch.

This is a 7-mile canal walk from Hatton Station, descending Hatton Locks and stopping at the Cape of Good Hope canalside pub for lunch. We then continue along the towpath to Leamington Spa station, directly opposite an exit from the towpath. It is completely towpath-based and hence is stile-free and traffic-free throughout.

We meet on the concourse at Birmingham Moor Street by 09.20 for the 09.26 train to Hatton, arriving at 09.49. Hatton Station, postcode CV35 7LE, has a small free car park. However, trains back to Hatton from our end point are infrequent so driving to Hatton Station is not recommended.

Walk leader: Paul Hatton

This walk starts at Hatton Station at 09.50. There is a 1.2 mile level canal walk to Hatton Locks, which will take around 45 minutes. We pause at the café at the top of Hatton Locks for refreshment. There are plenty of tables there to eat your own food/drink, or buy supplies from the cafe. If eating you own food/drink please do not use the tables reserved for the cafe; there are pleanty of public tables around.

Hatton's famous 'Stairway to Heaven' flight of 21 locks on the Grand Union canal has a fascinating history. State of the art locks were built at Hatton to fight off stiff competition from the roads and railways and widened in the 1930s. When the locks were completed, bands played and crowds gathered to watch the Duke of Kent arrive by boat and cut the ribbon. On leaving the café we go down the locks, which is an easy and steady descent, for a further 3.5 miles to The Cape of Good Hope canalside pub for lunch.

The Cape of Good Hope pub is on the district of Warwick known as the Cape and dates back to the 1800s. The Wills and Clark families were owners and later tenants of the Cape of Good Hope for a number of years. The “Cape” forms part of property bought by Thomas Young in the period of 1830-47, and was passed to the Wills family through the marriage of Thomas Young’s daughter to John Wills. It retains a traditional flavour with a rope maker based on-site and although no longer industrial, canal boats still pass by at regular intervals. Your walk leader can also vouch for their Scotch Eggs.

It is then a 2.8 mile walk along a mostly well-maintained towpath to our exit from the canal, directly opposite Leamington Spa station. The last quarter-mile or so on the towpath approaching Leamington can be muddy at times.

Leamington Spa is served by Cross-Country services through Coventry and Chiltern Trains through Solihull. For maximum flexibility a return ticket from any Birmingham station to Leamington Spa is recommended, which will cover the train to Hatton and any train back from Leamington Spa. The unfortunate timing of the train from Moor Street means that concessionary passes and off-peak tickets are not vailid for the outward journey, so an anytime return is needed.

Bookings for this walk will close at 06.00 on Wednesday 31 May. After this, please email [email protected] to enquire about any late availability for the walk.

General Information

This is one of several walks and activities offered by the Birmingham Ramblers. If you have found this page through a web search or other means and would like to find out more about the group then please visit the Birmingham Ramblers web site; new members are always welcome.

Host or Publisher Birmingham Ramblers