Distance: 9.25 miles

Difficulty of the terrain: medium

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

Walk along the Droitwich Canal to where it joins the River Severn, then along the banks of the River Severn into the cathedral city of Worcester.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

Droitwich Spa’s Salt Carrying Severn Trow Service

Salt – any pre-modern history textbook will tell you, was for millenia amongst the most valuable commodities.

Why? Because prior to refrigeration, canning and other ways of making food last longer, the application of salt to meat or fish was one of the few ways of keeping it for a prolonged period of time.

Alongside this utilitarian purpose salt was also speculated on and traded by proto-capitalists from at least the later Middle Ages, making it a key part of the emerging financial system as well as a vital good.

Hot springs at Droitwich Spa in mid-Worcestershire were one of the key places in Britain where salt was gathered from Roman times onwards. Salt mining and refining was prosecuted so fiercely that in places around the town the ground collapsed, whilst buildings in the town often became warped and steadily subsided, due to the depleted and undercut nature of the soil upon which they stood.

As early as the 1660s Droitwich’s salt producers and the wealthy interests that bought and speculated upon their goods sought to canalise the River Salwarpe which runs through the town to the River Severn. Nothing came of it, but their scheme did receive parliamentary approval.

Three generations later in 1758 major local business people in Droitwich decided to try again. This time they engaged the engineer James Brindley to look into constructing the town an entirely artificial canal to the River Severn. This would enable easy transhipment of their goods down the river to the settlements along its banks, and the ports on the Bristol Channel.

This time the efforts were successful with a six mile long canal from the centre of Droitwich to the River Severn just above Worcester opening in 1771. Compared to other canals of the era, the Droitwich Canal was constructed unusually wide, this was to allow sail powered Severn Trows to travel to and from Droitwich.

Over time the salt trade, and the need to move salt by water to the River Severn declined. Despite the construction of a link between the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the Droitwich Canal in 1854, and ongoing investment into the system as late as the 1880s, the Droitwich Canal increasingly fell out of use. After the First World War, whilst the canal remained officially open, no more traffic moved goods between the Severn and Droitwich through it, or vica versa. It became dilapidated and was formally abandoned with an act of parliament declaring it closed in 1939.

For over thirty years the line of the canal was largely forgotten and allowed to steadily become overgrown and decay. After leaving Droitwich ran through a fairly remote area so there was not a huge amount of interest in building upon most of it.

Then in 1973 – as part of the wave of post-Second World War enthusiasm for canal boating and restoring inland waterways – efforts began by volunteers to reconstruct the canal. The project continued steadily, with fits and starts of extensive reconstruction work supported by grants and funding appeals, until 2011 when the system was fully restored.

Today the Droitwich Canal is fully navigable once more from its junction with the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, right down to where it reaches the River Severn. It forms one leg of the popular Worcestershire Ring canal cruising route. In addition to its renewed use by canal boating enthusiasts it is also popular with walkers, cyclists, anglers and provides a form of “linear park” and nature reserve for residents of mid-Worcestershire and wildlife alike to enjoy.

The Walk

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

I create the Walk Midlands routes via Ordnance Survey Maps Explorer enabling me to take them on my phone. Subscribe yourself via the banner above.

From Droitwich Spa Railway Station where this walk begins, exit to the right onto the car park from the southbound platform.

Once in the car park turn left and cross the car park heading for a set of stairs in the corner.

Head up these stairs.

Then turn left crossing a road bridge across the railway line.

On the far side of the bridge there is a wide footpath leading into a patch of woodland.

Walk down this footpath.

Presently there is a set of steps and a paved path sloping off to the right.

Turn down this path until you reach a pavement beside a main road.

Once on the main road turn left and walk along it for a short distance before crossing to the other side.

Soon you see a tree set amidst some grass land, next to a stream running through a culvert to your right.

Here either walk across the grass heading towards this tree, or walk slight further on until you come to a narrow tarmacked path leading to the right, turn down here.

Having crossed the grass you reach a gap in the trees.

This leads to a tree lined snicket which you walk down.

The snicket leads onto a modern housing estate. Here turn right.

After a short distance you come to another road running off to the left.

Cross over making for this road.

On the other side there is another snicket.

Turn down here.

Walk down the snicket, which slopes steadily downhill.

At the bottom you reach the towpath of the Droitwich Canal.

Turn left here and begin walking.

Presently you approach a road bridge.

Here, upon reaching the road side, turn right and cross the bridge.

On the far side of the bridge, on the left hand side there is a narrow opening leading down a flight of steps to the towpath of the Droitwich Canal.

Once on the towpath turn right. You then follow the towpath for around five and a half miles, all the way to Hawford where the Droitwich Canal joins the River Severn.

Initially the towpath runs through the suburbs of Droitwich Spa.

Soon however, the canal bursts out into open countryside.

Just after a white painted former lock cottage you come to a small country road which you cross and continue along the towpath on the other side.

You continue along a little further.

After some distance the towpath merges with a road which you walk along a short distance.

Having walked a short distance along the road you come to a t-junction.

At the t-junction you turn left.

Upon turning left you see an opening back onto the towpath on the right handside of the road.

Back on the towpath you continue walking straight ahead heading towards where the Droitwich Canal joins the River Severn.

Soon you approach another bridge carrying a small road across the canal.

On the other side you head through a gate and back onto the towpath.

Then you continue walking straight down the towpath.

Soon you reach a section where the Droitwich Canal runs very close to the River Salwarpe which is wending its way towards the River Severn, just like the canal.

Shortly before you reach the Severn the canal passes through a very heavily engineered modern tunnel beneath the A4133, constructed just over a decade ago in the course of the works which enabled the Droitwich Canal’s reopening.

Having passed through the tunnel you continue a short way through a small marina.

Just after passing through the marina you approach a lock.

On the far side of the lock gate there is a wooden footbridge.

Turn left and cross this footbridge. On the far side turn right heading into some woodland.

Follow the path through the woodland for some distance.

This soon leads out at the final lock on the Droitwich Canal where it joins the River Severn at Hawford.

At the end of the lock there is a flight of metal steps leading up and off to the left.

The top of the steps leads out onto a driveway beside a house.

Turn right and walk uphill along a lane for a short distance.

Soon there is a path leading off to the right.

Head down this footpath.

Follow this footpath around the edge of a field. Then through a small patch of woodland. This section of footpath runs near the top of quite a tall, steep river cliff above the Severn.

Once through the woodland you enter another field.

Keep your eyes peeled for a footpath running off to your right, down a slope into woodland.

Walk down this path through the trees as it runs off to the left.

Soon you reach a flight of wooden steps.

At the bottom of the wooden steps there is a steep unpaved track.

On reaching the track turn right and walk down it.

The track ends beside the banks of the River Severn.

Upon reaching the River Severn there is a stile leading into a field besides the river to your left.

Cross this stile and walk across the field.

Keep following this path, which is clearly marked, across the fields beside the River Severn.

Continue along the path for some distance until you cross the boundary into the City of Worcester Council district.

Here a short way into Worcester city, you come to a grassy park area.

Under usual conditions you can cross this park type area and keep walking through the fields beside the River Severn into the middle of the city. When I walked the route however, the path was closed from shortly after the park. Ostensibly Worcestershire County Council are in the process of repairing the path. However, when I tried to walk along it, it was extensively fenced off, and looked like it would remain so for a while, so I had to find an alternative route.

As such upon reaching the little grassy park area, turn left crossing the park heading for a gap in the hedge on the far side, next to a fence and a City of Worcester Council branded litter bin.

This leads out into a car park.

Keep heading to the left along an unpaved lane.

This leads onto a lane running through woodland.

Keep on walking up this lane towards the housing estates comprising Belvedere, a north eastern suburb of Worcester.

Upon reaching an estate of 1970s vintage houses turn right.

Follow the road around as it steadily runs to the left.

Presently on the right there is a snicket between two houses.

Head down this snicket. It leads to a path running across a park and down past a tennis court.

On reaching another cul-de-sac of modern era houses, keep walking straight ahead down a further snicket on the other side.

Keep walking along this snicket.

At the bottom head slightly to the left, towards an alleyway closed to cars with a bollard.

After some distance you reach a road lined with houses, keep walking straight ahead along it.

Soon the road ends, and you turn to the left.

Almost immediately on the far side of the road there is a footpath.

Head down this footpath.

It soon comes out into Gheluvelt Park which has The Pump House eco centre (housed in an old steam pumping station) on the far side.

Follow the path across the park.

On the far side of the park walk a short way straight ahead along a road lined with a terrace of modern red brick houses.

At the end of the terrace you reach a crossroads.

Here, turn right and walk a short distance along the road.

Having walked a short way along the road on the left hand side there is an alleyway running behind some houses.

Turn and walk down this alleyway.

Presently this alleyway turns into a quiet road with large Victorian era houses on the left, and flood meadows with the Worcester Racecourse on them, to the right.

Keep on walking along this lane as it runs steadily to the right.

Soon you come to a proper road.

Keep on walking straight along this road.

After walking a short distance along this road you come to a junction.

Here turn left and walk uphill past the former Worcester Infirmary Building and a 1930s era art deco former showroom, both now part of the University of Worcester, the art deco building as Worcester Art House.

Here, turn right and walk into the heart of the city.

Presently you come to the bridge which carries the railway line across Foregate Street in the centre of Worcester.

It is here that you can access Foregate Street Railway Station and this is where the walk ends.

Getting Back

From Foregate Street Railway Station in the centre of Worcester trains run north towards West Midlands county via Droitwich and Bromsgrove, as well as through Kidderminster and south eastern parts of the Black Country. They also run south towards Malvern and Hereford, as well as via a different route towards Cheltenham and Bristol. There is also a service along the Cotswold Line towards Oxford, Reading and London. Buses from Worcester serve destinations across Worcestershire, though the frequency is often patchy outside of the morning and early afternoon, with an even more limited service on weekend days.