Drayton Bassett to Shustoke

Today was my 60th birthday and we had returned to the Heart of England Way for the next week, again with both cars and planning slightly more leisurely days than are sometimes necessary when walking from B&B to B&B. We were staying at the Balsall Common Premier Inn; wow - we sure know how to celebrate! To be fair, it was an extremely comfortable Premier Inn and our choice of location had enabled us to have a celebratory meal last night at the Michelin-starred restaurant The Cross in nearby Kenilworth. We've eaten at The Cross a couple of times before, when staying with our daughter and son-in-law who used to live in Kenilworth, and it completely lived up to expectations on this occasion.

So all was going to plan apart from the weather! We drove to the Shustoke Reservoir car park (SP226901) and left one car there and then we drove the other car back to the parking area by the church in Drayton Bassett (SK194003); there was no avoiding the fact that it was raining, so my first birthday photo shows full wet-weather gear! We continued along the road on foot to emerge on the A4091 just south of the entrance to Drayton Manor Theme Park, where a steady stream of cars were arriving (it was about 10 am, which is when the park opens, so not really surprising). Drayton Manor was once the home of Sir Robert Peel, but the Estate was sold to the Bryan family after the Second World War and the theme park was opened in 1949. We meanwhile crossed the road and took a bizarre castellated foot bridge over the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. A narrowboat was passing underneath the bridge as we crossed it and the boat proceeded at almost the same speed at which we were walking, so we stayed close to it for the next couple of miles. Occasional narrowboats came the other way, which caused some difficulty for our companions because they seemed to prefer steering to the left of the canal rather than to the right which would be more conventional. The rain was not too heavy, but it was definitely still raining!

We reached Curdworth Bottom Lock, which another narrowboat was negotiating, and turned away from the canal into Kingsbury Water Park, a series of lakes in former gravel extraction pits. The path took a meandering path around the lakes then under the M42 and through Echills Wood to the terminus of the Echills Wood Narrow Gauge Railway and the Old Barn Coffee Shop. I'd contemplated a ride on the railway to celebrate my birthday but it didn't seem to be running yet; however we stopped for refreshments and the rain stopped whilst we were doing so, which was good enough for me.

Our walk continued past yet more lakes then over the River Tame and up steps to Kingsbury Church and Old Hall which are situated on higher ground overlooking the river and its flood plain. We walked through the village then across a meadow and under a railway line to emerge close to the Kingsbury Oil Terminal, the largest inland oil storage area in the UK. We crossed a road and walked around a rifle range, then strode out across what is rightly described as a "prairie field" . We were heading, as instructed, for a tree on the horizon. The walking was much more pleasant than I have made it sound, even if we were heading for the wrong tree! After finding the correct tree, we sat down by it for lunch.

From here we meandered our way on a mixture of country lanes and footpaths across agricultural fields, from the south of Hurley to Whitacre Heath by way of Foul End. The fields sometimes approximated to obstacle courses, which the obstacles including maize plants and muddy recently ploughed fields. We were rewarded by some good views to the Coleshill Parkway area. We took an attractive path alongside a railway on the outskirts of Whitacre Heath then cut through the pretty hamlet of Hoggrill's end to the more major railway which we eventually realised is the line by which we approach Birmingham when travelling from home via Ely and Peterborough.

The path has been slightly rerouted to take walkers across the railway by bridge rather than having to walk across the tracks. The Centenary Way (the Warwickshire one) had also been rerouted in this area, now sharing the Heart of England Way's route to the narrow strip of land between the railway line and the reservoir. Richard favoured following the Centenary Way around the western edge of the larger Shustoke Reservoir, but I wanted to maximise our chances of good views of the reservoirs and was being something of a purist, so we continued eastwards on a not very exciting path between the railway line and the invisible reservoir to the south. However I did not need a lot of persuasion to take a path which descended then took a path between the two reservoirs rather than continuing to the east of both of them. We then continued on a path to the south of the larger reservoir, around the sailing club, and back to the car.

Driving together to rescue the second car back in Drayton Bassett was relatively straightforward, but my journey back from there to Balsall Common was more of an adventure than I'd have wished. I have an iPad with the Apple Maps App and Google Maps both installed. Sometimes I use one and sometimes I use the other; both can be good but both can let me down for reasons I've been unable to fathom, so I'm not quite sure what persuaded me to take a route back to the Premier Inn along the M42 without first having a good knowledge of the route that the technology had planned for me. No sooner was I on the motorway than whichever app I was relying on froze. I guessed the correct exit from the motorway, but finding the right onward route from the big roundabout by the NEC was truly scary. Thankfully I guessed that "Leamington Spa" might be the right direction and soon I picked up signs to Balsall Common.

I therefore arrived back at the Premier Inn a dithering wreck, which made it even more special that the staff had spotted my birthday cards and so left me a card, balloons, a little bottle of wine and maltesers. In the evening we went into Kenilworth and after a pleasant walk around by the Castle and through Abbey Fields, we went for another lovely meal at Harringtons on the Hill. Altogether it had been an enjoyable and memorable day.

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