New Worcester Trails

I am really excited to be able to report that we have two new Worcester Trails to offer when we are at the Worcester Victorian Fair at the beginning of December!

Both have been written by David (who also wrote the two 'old' Worcester Trails), so we can be sure they complement each other beautifully. The first 'new' one is Worcester's Trail of 2 Bridges - a great name I think as it describes the Trail very well - it starts at the Sabrina Bridge end of Worcester's Severn and is a walking or cycling Trail. We have, for some time, been wanted to write a Trail that was off road and suitable for cycling and this one ticks that box! The Trail crosses over to the non-city side of Worcester and heads along the Severn, past Cripplegate Park. The park is delightful and has so much going on in it. Whenever I go past it I have fond memories of our very first fair - it was a summer flower fair and we sold all of 10 Trails and were very excited by the whole experience!

Crossing over the road and heading on past the cricket ground, you really feel you are out in the countryside and away from the bright lights of the city! The Trail heads to the new Diglis bridge and crossing over the bridge you are on the return journey, past the Diglis basin and loch! The development around there really is worth a view and some of the properties that have been built appear very desirable! Heading back along the river, there are all sorts of interesting things to see including how high the flooding has been in the past and I suspect that at certain times of the year, Trailers will need to check the height of the river before they attempt this Trail!

The Trail finishes back at Sabrina Bridge and will take around an hour and a half if walked at a reasonably relaxed pace!

The second new Trail is 'Worcester in Pictures'. This Trail has been written with the younger members of the family in mind and is entirely around the pedestrian parts of Worcester. It starts at the open market just outside the Crown Gate shopping centre and every clue has a photo attached to it. This means that younger Trailers can be shown the picture and can then look out for it as they walk around - we have had feedback from several customers that the children really like the hide and seek element of our Trails so this is a wonderful addition to the Worcestershire catalogue. It should also take around an hour and a half and perhaps can be done by Dad with the kids whilst Mum shops!! Just an idea :). Suffice to say that although we haven't quite finished testing it, we are looking forward to having it on the stall at the various Christmas markets we will be at this December.

Aberaeron

Doing a Treasure Trail in someone else’s patch is always very interesting and doing the Aberaeron Lost Treasure Hunt was no different to our experiences elsewhere! We were staying in a self catering place, right on the harbour and the route of the Treasure Trail went right past the house, so we decided not to start at the beginning but to pick up the route at Clue 5! I wonder if we’ve publicised enough that it really doesn’t matter where you start on a Trail when they are circular and you don’t need to know what has gone before to work out what is next.

We set off then towards the sea front, only distracted briefly by the clues and plaques that we passed before we found ourselves on the coastal path. Coastal paths are often very challenging, but this bit of it was flat and along the shore line which was a good thing for my recovering knee (had an op on it a couple of months ago). We were then directed up through fields and back down again into the main part of town. As we walked around we learnt much about the town which is Georgian and very beautiful even in November with the houses painted lovely pastel shades and in fantastic knick considering they are by the sea.

I hadn’t realised that Aberaeron was one of Dylan Thomas’s haunts and was also intrigued to find a plaque on a bridge which was built by one of my old employers, no longer in existence as the company was acquired by Tarmac way back in the late 70s!

We did think we might try out the Aberystwyth Trail as well, but as the Tourist Information Centre had sold out of them, we didn’t manage to get hold of one.....but we plan to go back in September or October next year and will be more organised with a stock of Trails ready! They really do make sure you see the best bits of a town and of course give the walk a purpose!

The weather deteriorated as the week went on, but the sunsets were gorgeous and the restaurants either side of us served heavenly food, so all in all we had a great time!