What we’re about
Birmingham Ramblers are part of the Warwickshire Area of the Ramblers. Its aims are to promote walking, protect and promote access to open countryside, protect footpaths and organise walks which we hope all members can enjoy. We are an ethnically diverse group with a mature membership that is young at heart and welcoming to all. We have a great programme of walks for all abilities, holidays and social activities.
Birmingham Ramblers have their main walks on Sundays twice a month and Wednesdays every other week. Our shorter walks are on Thursdays and Saturdays, usually two of each per month.
Please note, that besides the Meetup RSVPs, members wishing to walk must also register at our Eventbrite page. Links will be messaged to anyone who says "yes" to a walk.
Our Sunday walks are by coach, and the cost per person is £20.00, irrespective of distance. During the summer months when the evenings are lighter we travel longer distances to reach the locations of the walks. The walks may be circular, but often are linear, with the coach dropping off and picking up at different places, making for a varied and interesting walking experience. (Many of our regular members do not belong to the Meetup group so the number shown to be attending is not a true reflection of actual attendees, which is always higher.) Take a look at our website for a full list of events: http://www.birminghamramblers.org.uk/.
Birmingham Ramblers are part of the national charity The Ramblers' Association. The charitable aims are to promote, encourage or assist in: The provision and protection of foot paths and other ways over which the public have a right of way or access on foot, including the prevention of obstruction of public rights of way.
And of course people benefit from social walking and the effect on mental well being are well established.
Members of The Ramblers are entitled to walk with any local group throughout the country. The Birmingham group encourage and welcomes new walkers and potential new members may join us on up to three rambles before membership application is necessary for continued group activity. Membership application forms are available on request.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Offchurch and Newbold Comyn (optional pub lunch) travel by car or trainThe New Inn, Leamington Spa
BOOKING ESSENTIAL, please use the link for our booking page.
Walk description and meeting arrangements:
WALK DESCRIPTION: This is a figure of 8 route accessible by public transport or car. The lunch at the New Inn is a traditional pub menu for which pre-ordering is required, or you can bring a picnic to enjoy in a nearby nature reserve. Morning Walk: Circular via Offchurch and Newbold Comyn, (route courtesy of Country Walking Magazine).5.25 miles, 207ft total ascent. The walk leader will lead the train travellers to the start via the Grand Union Canal. 10.45am Start from the New Inn. This walk uses a combination of canal towpath, old railway tracks and field paths east of Leamington Spa. It is via the Grand Union Canal, and railway viaduct at Radford Semele and on to the attractive village of Offchurch, old park land at Offchurch Bury and the Leam Valley nature reserve. Afternoon walk: Circular following The River Lea to the heart of Leamington and returning via the Grand Union Canal. This is a flat 3mile, or 2.25miles if finishing at the station, walk through parks, riverside, nature reserves and canal tow path.
MEETING ARRANGEMENTS: By Train: Meet at Moor Street Station at 9.30 for 9.45 am Moor Street to Leamington Spa train. Arrive in Leamington at 10.22 am. This train is via Dorridge. Purchase any time any route day return £13.80 Centro pass holders will need a return ticket from Dorridge. Car: Meet at the New Inn, 195-197 Leam Terrace, CV31 1DW. There is on street parking. The walk leader will lead the train travellers to the start via the Grand Union Canal to the New Inn, 195-197 Leam Terrace, CV31 1DW - Short Walk: Plantsbrook Nature ReservePlantsbrook Local Nature REserve, Birmingham
BOOKING ESSENTIAL, please use the link for our booking page.
WALK DESCRIPTION: Distance/time: 7.4km (4.6m) gentle river side walk, almost entirely flat, taking about 3 hours (including coffee and lunch stops). The walk takes a figure of eight route along the boardwalks of this beautiful hidden nature reserve where many kinds of water birds and plants can be seen on the different lakes. There are lakeside benches for coffee and heron spotting at the end. We then cross the road into Pype Hayes Park and follow Plants Brook into Newhall Valley Country Park. Please note there are no public loos en route but on the corner of Wylde Green road (next to Bark Co) we pass a small cafe, Bark Bistro, which serves hot & cold drinks and snacks (sandwiches, jacket potatoes etc). They have a staff loo which they say customers may use. Finally, we follow a boardwalk back round and through to the main road at Thimble End. Here we can catch an X14 bus which goes back to the city centre past Plantsbrook where people with cars parked at the start point can get off. Lunch options: the walk should finish at approx 1-1.30 pm. Walkers who want to eat can either bring a picnic or buy a snack at Bark Bistro.
JOINING INSTRUCTIONS: Meeting/starting point: Meet me at bus stop CS1 on Upper Corporation St (by the law courts) at 9.45 am to catch bus X14 at 9.57 am, or meet in the car park at Plants Brook Nature Reserve (off Eachelhurst Road, B76 1EJ) at 10.20 am. Walk departs at 10.30 am from the car park. - Short Walk: Saltwells Nature Reserve, Delph Locks and the Batham’s brewery tapMoor Street Station Birmingham , Birmingham
BOOKING ESSENTIAL, please use the link for our booking page
Meeting arrangements:
Meet at 10.00 at Birmingham Moor Street Station for the 10.11am to Cradley Heath, arriving Cradley Heath at 10.39 am.
Walk Description:
This is a walk of about 4 miles starting at Cradley Heath station. After a short road walk from the station we enter Saltwells National Nature Reserve, taking in the historical landmark of Doultons Claypit and the canal feeder Lodge Farm Reservoir, also known as the Netherton Reservoir. The land around and including what we now know as Saltwells National Nature Reserve was owned by The Earl of Dudley. In 1894 a lease was drawn up by Henry Doulton and Company to lease 20 acres of this land from the Earl. Doulton’s Claypit is a result of fireclay extraction by Royal Doulton between 1870 and 1940, which has left behind high exposures of sandstone, clay and coal (Heathen Coal), which belong to the Middle and Lower Coal Measures. From the Claypit the fireclay would be carried, by tub, up an incline, known as the Old Tube Line to the Dudley No.2 Canal and Brewin’s cutting. During the Industrial Revolution the Dudley No.2 Canal formed part of a network that connected the Heart of the Earl of Dudley’s Estate with the Potteries and the rest of the Midlands.
We leave the nature reserve and walk into the Merry Hill Shopping Centre, often referred to as the Merry Hell Centre. Here we take a break for coffee and probably cakes.
We then join the Dudley No. 1 Canal, constructed by the engineer Thomas Dadford, and walk down the Delph Locks. The Delph Locks or the Delph Nine are a series of eight (originally nine) narrow canal locks. They were opened in 1779, and reopened in 1967 following restoration of the Dudley Canal and the Stourbridge Canal in a joint venture between the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Society and the British Waterways Board. An iron roving bridge manufactured by Horsley Ironworks stands near the top lock, while the original lock-keeper's house, built in 1779 and modified in the nineteenth century, is a grade II listed structure, as it is one of only a few surviving houses of its type.
We leave the canal at the bottom lock and after a short walk we find the Vine Inn (a.k.a. The Bull and Bladder as its lounge bar occupies space that was once a butcher's shop), next door to the Bathams Brewery, a firm Black Country (and wider) favourite. With its quotation from Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verone “Blessing of Your Heart: You Brew Good Ale”, set out across the front of the building, this pub has become part of Black Country folklore. The terrazzo tiling in various areas, including the front bar, passageways, and ladies' room, is a key feature, contributing to the pub's historic atmosphere.
After refreshment we return to Birmingham. It is a walk of just over a mile, or catch the X10 or 4M bus from near the pub, back to the station for frequent trains or stay on the X10 bus back to town. - Derbyshire Dales Peak District walk (out and return by coach from Birmingham)St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham
BOOKING ESSENTIAL, please use the link for our booking page. Coach fare £20, payable cash/cheque or in advance by bank transfer.
A packed lunch and a flask of tea/coffee or soft drinks should be taken for the whole day, although we may have a lunchtime pub/café stop for refreshments. The pick-up point for the coach is the layby at the side of St. Chad’s Cathedral. The coach leaves at 9.00 am, but advise walkers to arrive by 8.45 am. Booking is essential for these walks. The fare is £20.
Three levels of walk to suit all abilities, approximately 7-8, 9 and 12 miles.
Below is a description of the 9 miles walk:
B WALK DESCRIPTION: 9 miles with 1,200 ft of climbing. Circular walk from layby on A6 between Whatstandwell and Ambergate. The walk follows the disused Cromford canal North for about 2 miles. Then climbs North up a grassy field to the village of Holloway. From here East towards Crich firstly to the memorial tower to the members of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment who died in the First World War. This is the highest point of the walk. The tower may be climbed as an optional extra. Then onto the village of Crich where there is a pub. Crich is famous for limestone quarries and the tramway museum. From Crich South along Tors ridge then continuing South through woods until reaching the Cromford Canal back to the starting place.
