UKH

My area of Sedgley, West Midlands, has one of a long chain of hills that run south-eastwards across the Black Country region. The first hill, Sedgley Beacon, is a 777ft. limestone ridge and the ridge continues to Dudley and the Wrens Nest and Castle Hill are part of the same ride.

A second ridge starts fairly close to Dudley Castle and runs down to Rowley Regis. This is a dolerite ridge known as the Rowley Hills and it includes Turner's Hill, the highest point in the Black Country.

Are some members familiar with the hills in my region? I wasn't sure if there were many people from the Midlands on the forum. Although the hills are of course located in an urban area, they are still very scenic and the views are fantastic (as far north as Shining Tor and as far south as the Cotswolds).

In reply to Matt_79: Reasonably familiar mate, lived in Gornal most of my life and every direction is a bloody hill.

I'm fairly partial to kinver, canal paths brown clee and the long mynd though.

Nice to see a local.

In reply to Mad Hatter 1988:

Cheers. I like Kinver as well, and I have also done some canal path walking, I find the canal paths in the industrial/ex-industrial areas just as interesting as those in the greener areas.

I have yet to do Brown Clee - I am very familiar with Malvern, though, and as you will know there is a fantastic view to the Clees and the Malverns from Upper Gornal.

In reply to Matt_79: another local here, you gotta do clee hill, lovely over there. i love the mynd! dont know much about the hills in question. i tend to leave the area when getting out

In reply to Matt_79:

I was told a while ago that Russells Hall hospital is built atop an extinct volcano with the slopes running down to Pensnett, Merry Hill, Milking Bank etc., but how true that is I don't know.

I'm rather fond of the Clent hills, and Baggeridge is quite nice, even if the hills are mostly slag-heaps with grass on them, along with old bits of Roman fortifications mixed in. Dudley & Wrens Nest, however, deserve to be nuked for crimes against civilisation.

I was over the Long Mynd today with friends, and we got all 4 seasons in one day, including some lovely sideways snow/hail flying in at high speed. It's a lovely bit of the world though, and nice to be able to escape to within a 45min drive.

In reply to Matt_79: I have an *incredibly* old climbing magazine - an early Rocksport, late 60s, and it mentions climbing at teh Wren's Nest. Never seen mention of it again until your post! Is there still climbing there, do you think?

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

I wouldn't go there now without an armed escort; it's an absolutely vile place, like a holding pen for Jeremy Kyle.

In reply to TryfAndy: Objective dangers? You're making it sound quite attractive!

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Have some beta

http://www.chavtowns.co.uk/2005/02/dudley/

In reply to Matt_79: My old stomping grounds. As a teenager, inspired by an Eric Newby book (I think), I took his idea of choosing two hills a suitable distance apart, and on the night of the summer solstice, watched the sun set from Sedgley Beacon, then walked to Kinver Edge to watch it rise.
Another favourite, promoted by the Birmingham Post or some local paper was "The Shropshire Peaks" - 6 summits over 1500' - Corndon (actually just in Wales), Stipperstones, Long Mynd, Caer Caradoc, Brown Clee and Titterstone Clee. Did that 2 or 3 times. However, my favourite hill in the area has to be The Lawley - such a beautiful ridge, and the last hill I walked up with my mum and dad.

In reply to Mark Kemball:

The sunset from Sedgley Beacon is beautiful. I saw the most fantastic sunset ever on Christmas Day 2010 from the Beacon where the sun was setting over the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons. Both ranges looked fantastically clear, like green hills rather than grey outlines and the freezing conditions caused a temperature inversion that brought the lower ridges of the Brecon Beacons into view.

Normally you can only see Pen y Fan/Corn Du as well as Cribyn just sticking up on the horizon. Unfortunately my camera was out of order at the time!

I haven't done The Lawley yet, or the Clees, although I have walked The Wrekin on a very clear October day. Another really good hill is Barr Beacon, which is is part of the Beacon Regional Park stretching down to Sandwell Valley. I like how Barr Beacon is in a more rural setting and it is much more park-like than Sedgley Beacon or the Rowley Hills.

In reply to Matt_79: Sedgley Beacon ... as a kid, my dad, who'd done a little climbing before I was born, bought me a 20' waistline, with which my brother and friends used to play at rock climbing in the old limestone quarries on the beacon (also a wonderful scource of fossils ), sadly, these have now disappeared under the reservoir.

As for the Lawley, go, it's a really superb hill.

In reply to Matt_79: The Wrekin is on my back door. I go up there or around the wrekin regularly. Just because I can.
Robin

In reply to Mark Kemball:

I will definately go to The Lawley when the weather is better. It is a shame the limestone quarries on Sedgley Beacon disappeared under the reservoir. This would have been a few years before I was born.