Layers of Landscape - first walk of 2023
Hello Walkers!
In this edition of the Walkspace newsletter we announce our first public walk of 2023, we share pictures of our Winter Solstice sunrise walk and we share some other walking related goings-on.
Layers of Landscape: a suburban stroll with Robson
Walkspace member Robson has been compulsively walking and exploring southwest Birmingham and its rich surrounds for many years. In that time he has developed an expansive knowledge of the local topography: its winding lanes, ancient trackways and snaking valleys. A walk with Robson reveals a layered landscape of geological, animal and human interventions that form the backdrop of our suburban existence.
For our first Erratic of the year Robson will take us from Bournville Green out to Manor Farm Park and back again, peeling back the layers of the natural and human landscapes to reveal the magic of the everyday. The route takes in old pathways that once crossed farmland, a brook with multiple identities, a 400 year old hedge, a chunky piece of 1960s street infrastructure, a portal to the Elan Valley, ripples from an ice age flood and a recreation of a 14th Century Serbian Byzantine church.
Meet by the Rest House on Bournville Village Green at 11am, Sunday 26th February. This is a circular route of 3.5 miles, finishing back at the Rest House. We'll walk at a gentle pace and aim to be back by 1pm. The terrain is pavements, roads and grass. We'll be crossing a footbridge which has ramp access. Steps will be avoided. No Need to book, just turn up. The walk will go ahead whatever the weather.
Feel free to share this link with anyone who may be interested: http://walkspace.uk/2023/02/layers-of-landscape-a-suburban-stroll-with-robson/
Photos from Winter Solstice sunrise walk
For the final Erratic of 2022 we visited Bordesley Henge in Birmingham to mark the Winter Solstice. Bordesley Henge is a municipal stone circle situated in Kingston Hill Park and is believed to date back to the 1990s. Six standing stones form a ring on top of a mound, up which a spiral footpath winds its way from the park's entrance just off the A4540 Middleway. The park is the very definition of a hidden gem and the perfect place to welcome the Midwinter sun.
Read the report and see the pictures here.
Is the City of Birmingham a Living Organism?
Friend of Walkspace Lee Mackenzie is co-leading walking and mapping workshops in response to Judith Alder's Vital Signs exhibition at RBSA Gallery in the Jewellery Quarter. The workshops take place on the 18th and 23rd of February and can be booked onto here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/judith-alder-58894706163
"Join evolutionary biologist, 'artificial life' practitioner and complexity scientist Dr Alex Penn and artist/poet Lee Mackenzie at the RBSA Gallery for a creative walking workshop. After an introduction in the gallery, we will explore the local area to investigate how and whether the city and its constituent parts work like an ecosystem."
Stay tuned for more West Midlands walking updates!
All the best,
Andy, Robson, Fiona and the rest of the Walkspace extended family