Tuesday 13 September 2022

Clear the undergrowth on Dudley's section of Black Country Cycle-Walk Mudway

Dear friend - please reply.  Please do more to make your/our section fit to use without wellies!

Can your workers clear the undergrowth to allow the mud to dry out more quickly?

None of the 22 Kms, Black Country Cycle-Walk Mudway (from Fens Pool Avenue to NW Wolverhampton) has a hard tarmac surface with good drainage.  However, different parts of the South Staffordshire and Wolverhampton section are called Kingswinford Railway Walk, Monarch's Way and Valley Parkway.  They are popular with walkers, cyclists and horse riders.  That section has a lovely Woodland Trust property, called Himley Plantation with a car park beside the cycle-walkway.  In Wolverhampton, there is the Valley Park nature reserve and two old railway stations are cafes that are well used when open.

The Dudley section has two short public rights of way connecting it with the Crooked House, "Creative rustic cooking and local real ales served in quirky higgledy-piggledy old world pub."  (Google Maps)  It is off Himley Road and is well worth a visit for the mining subsidence that has caused it to be 'crooked'.  I've never seen anything like it for its visual illusions!

The whole 22 Kms Black Country Cycle-Walk Mudway is clearly marked on the OS Explorer map as "Traffic-free cycle route" (from the map Legend or Key).  It has brown circles on the full length on the map that stand out so well.  On the ground, in Dudley, it is an utter disgrace in the vicinity of the Crooked House pub through to Barrow Hill Nature Reserve.

Tim Weller

No comments:

Post a Comment