Water: Stourport is undergoing something of a renaissance at the moment.

Stourport is undergoing something of a renaissance at the moment, with improvements to the canal basins in progress.

Already, a new bridge has been built and the long disused Lichfield Basin is once again filled with water, though there is still plenty of work to do before it is back in use and returned to life.

In the meantime, however, it's interesting to see progress being made in this formerly neglected area.

If you want to have a look at Lichfield Basin you should walk up Severnside and Mart Lane at the end of this walk.

Also on the subject of transport engineering, you can enjoy an excellent view from both Wilden Lane and an adjacent footpath of the fine viaduct which once carried a railway across the Stour valley from Stourport to Hartlebury.

The lack of foresight which led to the railway's closure seems crazy now, but at least the former line has been transformed into a most unusual public amenity, Leapgate Country Park: unusual because its narrow, linear shape is hardly the norm for a country park - really it's not much more than a very wide footpath. But it's a beautiful, enclosed, almost secret place, whose sandstone cuttings and embankments are now clothed in woodland.

Hartlebury Common Local Nature Reserve is probably the highlight of the walk, however, and you have no need to confine yourself to the short route across the common described here.

FACT FILE

The lovely Hartlebury Common.

Start: Bridge Street, Stourport-on-Severn, grid ref SO808712.

Length: Six miles/9.6km.

Maps: OS Explorer 218 or 219, OS Landranger 138.

Terrain: Canal towpath, heathland, woodland, meadows.

Footpaths: Mostly excellent, apart from the path by the River Stour at Wilden, which is overgrown .

Stiles: Eight. If you struggle with stiles you can avoid them all by staying on the road at Wilden, instead of taking the Wyre Mill/River Stour detour, and also by going straight on at the junction after Charlton Coach House (point four), then turning right on Hillditch Lane (see map).

Parking: Stourport Riverside (alternatively, park at Hartlebury Common - South Car Park on A4025 Worcester Road or Lower Poollands Car Park).

Buses: 294/295/300 to Stourport - note that buses from Worcester stop on Bridge Street, but buses to Worcester depart from York Street; the 295 also stops by the Wyre Mill bridleway on Wilden Lane if you prefer to start there; www.worcestershire.gov.uk/ bustimetables or Traveline 0871 200 2233.

Refreshments: Stourport and Wilden.

DIRECTIONS

Start: Bridge Street, Stourport-on-Severn, grid ref SO808712.

Length: Six miles/9.6km.

Maps: OS Explorer 218 or 219, OS Landranger 138.

Terrain: Canal towpath, heathland, woodland, meadows.

Footpaths: Mostly excellent, apart from the path by the River Stour at Wilden, which is overgrown .

Stiles: Eight. If you struggle with stiles you can avoid them all by staying on the road at Wilden, instead of taking the Wyre Mill/River Stour detour, and also by going straight on at the junction after Charlton Coach House (point four), then turning right on Hillditch Lane (see map).

Parking: Stourport Riverside (alternatively, park at Hartlebury Common - South Car Park on A4025 Worcester Road or Lower Poollands Car Park).

Buses: 294/295/300 to Stourport - note that buses from Worcester stop on Bridge Street, but buses to Worcester depart from York Street; the 295 also stops by the Wyre Mill bridleway on Wilden Lane if you prefer to start there; www.worcestershire.gov.uk/ bustimetables or Traveline 0871 200 2233.

Refreshments: Stourport and Wilden.

9:34am Monday 5th November 2007

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