2023 has been the first full year in which Walk Midlands has been published. This means that a total of 52 new walks have been published over the course of the year, equating to a new day walk doable without a car, somewhere in the English Midlands being published each week.
In terms of geographical distribution, walks published this year take in every Midland county apart from Lincolnshire (and Lincolnshire is included for the first time too, if you include the location of the nearest bus stop to north east Leicestershire’s Belvoir Castle). From the Peak District in the north, to the Cotswolds, Wye Valley and Malvern Hills in the south, and the Shropshire Hills in the west every National Park or National Landscape (besides the Lincolnshire Wolds) in the region has been featured. As has every major conurbation, and dozens of miles of towpaths and footpaths in-between.
Walks on the website have been accessed over 20,000 times over the course of the year. The list below are the 10 most viewed walks on the website published during 2023. Each one has been accessed hundreds of times, arranged from the tenth to the first most popular.
Check out the first part of the min-series listing the top ten most accessed walks of all time on Walk Midlands during 2023.
No. 10
Wightwick Manor
Walk from central Wolverhampton to the National Trust’s Wightwick Manor, primarily along the towpaths of the Birmingham Canal Navigation Main Line and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. (find out more)
No. 9
Ross on Wye – Goodrich Castle
Rural walk in the Wye Valley through the southern fringes of Herefordshire to to Goodrich Castle described by William Wordsworth as the county’s “nobleist ruin”. (find out more)
No. 8
Colwall – Great Malvern
Walk from Colwall Railway Station up and along the Malvern Hills range to the Worcestershire Beacon and then down via St. Anne’s Well to the centre of Great Malvern. (find out more)
No. 7
Ashbourne – Tissington
Walk north along the Tissington Trail from Ashbourne, the gateway to the southern Peak District, to the village of Tissington, supposedly the original home of the White Peak’s well dressing tradition. (find out more)
No. 6
Bardon Hill
Walk to the top of Bardon Hill the tallest hill in Leicestershire rightly famous for commanding views across the Midlands region.(find out more)
No. 5
Solihull – Birmingham
Mostly towpath walk along the Birmingham branch of the Grand Union Canal from Solihull to Digbeth on the edge of Birmingham city centre. (find out more)
No. 4
Stourbridge – Dudley
Canal towpath walk in the West Midlands between the two Black Country towns of Stourbridge and Dudley along the Stourbridge Canal. (find out more)
No. 3
Cold Overton Park Hill
Circular walk from Oakham Railway Station, through the town centre and out into the countryside up to Cold Overton Park Hill, which at 197m above sea level is the tallest hill in Rutland England’s smallest county. (find out more)
No. 2
Kidderminster – Bewdley
Varied walking route from Kidderminster Railway Station to Bewdley the historic River Severn side town in north Worcestershire famed for its grand 18th Century buildings. (find out more)
No. 1
Turner’s Hill
A walk up and over Turner’s Hill in the Rowley Hills, the highest point in West Midlands county. (find out more)
