This route is disability accessible, but the ploughed farmland on the south of the reservoir in this section is only suitable for Trampers. It is incredibly muddy in the Autumn/Winter that even the best Trampers may find it difficult to not get mud clogging up the vehicle. It is better in the Spring/Summer when it has dried out, but then the ground will be tough and uneven and may be difficult for people with poor core strength.
1. Starting at the fence line in front of the Picnic Area, face the reservoir and turn right; walk/wheel alongside the fence line.
2. When you get to the road turn left onto the road and follow it for 550m/0.3 miles, passing in front of the woods, and the reservoir to your left as always.
3. Eventually you will come to a road junction, but about 30m/100 ft before you do, there is a directional signpost on the left; turn left between the fence and the hedge, following the ‘Wild Grasslands’ sign".
*The ploughed farmland in this section is only suitable for Trampers. It is incredibly muddy in the Autumn/Winter that even the best trampers may find it difficult to not get mud clogging up the vehicle. It is better in the Spring/Summer when it has dried out, but then the ground will be tough and uneven and may be difficult for people with poor core strength.
4. Follow the pathway along the southern fence line for 1.2kms/0.8 miles, all the way over the farmed land, and wild grasslands, until you come to a RADAR accessible kissing gate that brings you out onto Genners Lane, opposite Moors Lane.
5. Turn left, and follow the wall, with the reservoir on your left as always. Continue for 750m/0.5 miles until you come to the driveway into the Sailing Club*. Turn left into the driveway, and just before the entrance gates, turn right past a low wooden fence up a dirt track, turning left at the top and following the tree line.
*Cross over the driveway, and carry on up the pavement, until you see an informal pathway into the woods on your left. If you hit the bus stop and the next side road, you’ve gone too far. Turn left into the woods and follow the pathway; shortly after entering there is a large mound with tree roots - you will need to take a right around this before rejoining the pathway on the other side. Next you will enter into an open green space. Continue with directions from No 6.
6. Continue on until you come to a pathway intersection with four possible routes. Turn left and the reservoir will be directly in front of you. Turn right when you’ve come out of the trees and follow the tree line on your right.
7. Keep on the pathway as it takes you into another field and down to the fence line again. Keep on through a third field and then you come out into the field with the Picnic Area where you started.
This route is disability accessible, but the ploughed farmland on the south of the reservoir, and the off-road route from Scotland Lane/Frankley Lane junction to the back of the church, are only suitable for Trampers. Disability access to the churchyard via the back is currently not possible,
Along the ploughed farmland on the south of the reservoir, is incredibly muddy in the Autumn/Winter that even the best Trampers may find it difficult to not get mud clogging up the vehicle. It is better in the Spring/Summer when it has dried out, but then the ground will be tough and uneven and may be difficult for people with poor core strength.
1. Starting where the pathway from the road to the Picnic Area intersects with another pathway, Looking out at the reservoir, turn left, following the brambles and road on your left, until you come out on the road.
2. Turn right onto the road, and after 30m/100ft you’ll see the entrance to the Meadows and directional signposts on the right; cross over through the trees on the other side of the road opposite.
3. Coming out into the Playing Field, turn right and follow the edge of the field with the trees on your right. You’ll see a large gap in the trees ahead with houses a little behind that. Go through the gap toward the houses until you come to the footpath that runs behind the houses.
4. When at the footpath, turn left, and continue until you leave the houses behind and the pathway drops with trees on either side; take the immediate pathway on the left leading into the wood, before the pathway climbs again.
5. Continue on the pathway that goes diagonally through the centre of the woods. You’ll come to the bottom corner of the woods where there is a directional signpost next to the road.
6. Coming out of the woods onto the road, turn right and walk about 450m/0.3m until you come to the road junction. Cross over and go through the gap in the fence.*
7. Walk ahead toward the left corner of the fence on the mound; then go behind it and through a wooden gate to the left of a steel cage. Turn left up the footpath and through a second wooden gate. Please close both gates.
8. Walk about 20m/70ft and there will be a fence to your right. Turn right and walk along the pathway with the fence on your left; there will be a pond on your right. Follow the pathway until you come out into a field with a RADAR
accessible kissing gate to your left.
9. With your back to the RADAR accessible kissing gate, walk onward on the pathway until you get to St Leonard’s Church where you need to go through a wooden kissing gate. Enjoy exploring the church and churchyard.
1o. Returning to the field through the wooden kissing gate, walk 15m/50ft and turn left, taking the more direct pathway back to the road junction. You’ll cross between iron railings which are the boundary line between Birmingham and Worcestershire.
11. Carrying on; pass through another wooden gate left of the steel cage, and pass the left of the fence on the mound. Walk over the gravel and grass until you pick up the pathway, turning left toward the gap in the fence at the road junction.
12. Once through the gap in the fence, cross over the road and walk to the directional signpost you passed previously, 50m/160ft up the road you came from. Turn right between the fence line and hedges where the post directs you to ‘Wild Grasslands’. *
*The ploughed farmland in this section is only suitable for Trampers. It is incredibly muddy in the Autumn/Winter that even the best Trampers may find it difficult to not get mud clogging up the vehicle. It is better in the Spring/Summer when it has dried out, but then the ground will be tough and uneven and may be difficult for people with poor core strength.
13. Follow the pathway along the southern fence line for 800m/0.5m until you move from the ploughed farmland, into the grassland. Just before you do there is an option to turn right and exit onto Frankley Lane bend; don’t.
14. Carry on for 30m/100ft and turn right on a pathway heading diagonally up a gentle slope, rather than walk along the fence line. The aim is to do an arc to the other end of the field, back to the pathway you left. The purpose is to get some height for the views and enjoy some of the area more.
15. Keep on this trajectory until you come to a large Oak in a clearing, with three possible pathways; continue on, with the Oak to your left.
16. Enjoying the views over the reservoir, take the first left when the track splits, descending back down toward the reservoir. Keep straight on until you reach the RADAR accessible kissing gate, ignoring any further left turns of which there are three. Exit through the RADAR accessible kissing gate onto Genners Lane, opposite Moors Lane,
17. Turn left, and follow the wall, with the reservoir on your left as always. Continue for 750m/o.5m stopping off part way to enjoy the lookout point over the reservoir, until you come to a side road into the Sailing Club*. Turn left into the driveway, and just before the entrance gates, turn right past a low wooden fence, up the dirt track into an open green space. Turn left at the top and follow the tree line.
*Cross over the driveway, and carry on up the pavement, until you see an informal pathway into the woods on your left. If you hit the bus stop and the next side road, you’ve gone too far. Turn left into the woods and follow the pathway; shortly after entering there is a large mound with tree roots - you will need to take a right around this before rejoining the pathway on the other side. Next you will enter into an open green space. Continue with directions from No 18.
18. Continue on until you come to another pathway intersection with four possible routes. Carry straight over and through the gap in the hedges into the top of a field with benches to your right. The fields here are glorious Meadows from June/July.
19. Continue on along the obvious pathway going through another gap in the hedges* into another larger field, with more benches to the right at the top of the field. You can enjoy more views over the reservoir while following the obvious pathway across the field.
*Tree routes prevent disability access so turn left and go down the hill until you come to a level access gap in the trees and go through. You can either then ‘u turn’ up the field on the other side of the trees, to rejoin the route, and follow directions from No 20. Or, stay by the fence line and follow the path across the bottom of the field to the Picnic Area in the next field, and back to where you started from.
20. You come out on the road where you started, near the Picnic Area. Turn left, and left again into the field, where the car parking spaces begin. Make an immediate right, with the brambles and road to your right and reservoir to your left. Walk on until you reach the Picnic Area.
This route has stiles, regular kissing gates, and other obstructions, and unfortunately, is not currently suitable for any kind of disability vehicle. However, disability access information will be provided incase you wish to visit sections separately.
1. Starting where the pathway from the road to the Picnic Area intersects with another pathway, and looking out at the reservoir, turn left following the brambles and road on your left, until you come out on the road.
2. Turn right onto the road, and after 30m/100ft you’ll see the entrance to the Meadows and directional signposts on the right; cross over through the trees on the other side of the road opposite.
3. Coming out into the Playing Field, turn right and follow the edge of the field with the trees on your right. You’ll see a large gap in the trees ahead with houses a little behind that. Go through the gap toward the houses until you come to the footpath that runs behind the houses.
4. When at the footpath, turn left, and continue until you leave the houses behind and the pathway drops with trees on either side. Take the immediate pathway on the left leading into the woods, before the pathway climbs again.
5. Continue on the pathway that goes diagonally through the centre of the woods. Take the second pathway on the right, about 200m/650ft in. Follow it up as it gently climbs until you are out of the woods on a footpath that runs along the back of the woods.
6. Turn left and walk along the path, ignoring the first stile almost immedtaly to your left. Walk on the pathway for about 500m/0.3m, needing to turn left after 200m/650ft, always keeping the fields and iron railings to your left, and the houses to your right. If at any point you come to Balmoral Road, you have carried on when you should have turned left to follow the iron railings.
7. You will come to a 90 degree right hand turn with a stile in the corner; climb over the stile. Walk down the gentle hillside for 300m/0.2m, enjoying the views in front of you, keeping the hedgerows to your right, until you come to a stile in the hedges; climb over it.
8. Eye the trees at the other end of the field, right of the farm house and
buildings. Aim for the immediate right of the row of trees, and after 200m/650ft, you’ll come to a kissing gate. Go through onto Church Hill.
9. Turn left down Church Hill; this is a very narrow country lane so be careful, and crisscross to whichever side of the road gives drivers the best chance of seeing you from furthest away. Walk until you come to St Leonard’s
Church.*
*Go forward into the churchyard if you do not wish to go to the viewpoint at Frankley Beeches. Pick up directions at No 14.
10. Turn down the small road to the right of the church, passing the church yard and car park on your left, and a house further up on your right. Ignore any traffic barriers and cones as this is to prevent vehicles from turning around. Also ignore ‘Private Lane/Land’ signs which refer to the land either side of the road.
11. The road turns into a pathway, and narrows further into a type of hollow, known to some locally as ‘The Roman Road’. Continue on as it ascends, crossing over a stile into a field.
12. Continue on and up, along the hedge line on your right, and the field to your left. A final ascent to the kissing gate brings you out on Egghill Lane. Frankley Beeches is in front of you, but turn right to the layby which looks out over both Bartley and Frankley Reservoirs, with views of the City of Birmingham in the background.
13. Return back to St Leonard’s the way you came.
14. After entering the churchyard take a look around. Then, when you are ready to leave, pass the church entrance walking to the wooden kissing gate at the back of the churchyard, and go through it into the field.
15. Follow the footpath straight down into the field corner where there is a RADAR accessible kissing gate; go through it. Carry straight on along the edge of the field until you come to a wooden fence blocking the way.
16. Here the pathway used to go straight*, but it has been redirected and you will need to go around the base of the bund/hill in front of you to reconnect with the old footpath on the other side. So turn right and follow the base of the bund/hill all the way around until you come to a gravel pathway that turns right into the woods.
*You can still take a more direct route by climbing the bund in front of you and walk along the top, then down the other side where you will rejoin the pathway. The mound offers nice views over Frankley Reservoir.
17. You will follow the pathway straight on for some time, passing the woods on your right, over a concrete stile, and passing farm fields to your left. The path narrows between a farm field on the left and fencing on the right, and passes through iron girders acting as vehicle deterrents.
18. Coming out onto a driveway with a farmhouse to your left, pass in front of the house and follow the driveway until its junction with another gravel road. Turn left onto the road and follow it until it bends right. Instead of turning with the road, go straight over at the bend through the kissing gate.* Continue over the bridge, and out onto Waterworks Drive. Cross the road to the green gates in front of you; go through the RADAR accessible kissing gate to the right of the green gates.
* Whilst not a disability accessible route, for those exploring this section of the route, you can follow the road as it bends right. When you come to the end of the road, ‘U turn’ left into the next road along; Waterworks Drive. Go up the road, pass the houses on your right until you get to some green metal gates; go through the RADAR accessible kissing gate to the right of the green gates. Continue with directions from No 19.
19. Follow the pathway up the incline, taking a pathway on the right when coming out into open space. Carry on, going left when the pathway splits, coming to the top of an open field.
20. Turn right following the hedge line at the top of the field all the way to the field’s far corner. Ignore the RADAR accessible kissing gates there, and turn left following the metal fence line down the edge of the field again.
21. When you come to the last house on the right behind the fence line, turn left and follow the tree line with the trees on your left. After about 100m/330ft, after walking through a staggered tree line, turn right 90 degrees looking out across the field that has opened up stretching into the distance.
22. Although a Public Right of Way, the pathway is not obvious in
Autumn/Winter, and is unfortunately covered in crops in the Spring/Summer. So, chart a straight line through the centre of the field and walk it, passing the woods to your right and Frankley Water Treatment Works to your left. until you come to the hedgerows. Find the gap in the hedges and walk through onto Frankley Lane.
23. Turn right down Frankley Lane, criss-crossing to whichever side allows for vehicles to see you from the furthest away as you navigate the turns. When you come to a sharp right bend, cross behind the vehicle barrier and through the large hole in the hedges there.
24. Walk straight ahead to the reservoir’s southern fence line and turn right from the ploughed field into the grasslands.
25. Carry on for 30m/100ft and turn right on a pathway heading diagonally up a gentle slope, rather than walk along the fence line. The aim is to do an arc up the slope, and down again on the other side of the field, back to the pathway you left. This gives you some height for the views.
26. Keep on this trajectory until you come to a large Oak in a clearing, with three possible pathways; continue on, with the Oak to your left.
27. Enjoying the views over the reservoir, take the first left when the track splits, descending back down toward the reservoir. Keep straight on until you reach the RADAR accessible kissing gate, ignoring any further left turns of which there are three. Exit through the RADAR accessible kissing gate onto Genners Lane, opposite Moors Lane,
28. Turn left, and follow the wall, with the reservoir on your left as always. Continue for 750m/o.5m stopping off part way to enjoy the lookout point over the reservoir, until you come to the side road into the Sailing Club*. Turn left into the driveway, and just before the entrance gates, turn right past a low wooden fence, up the dirt track into an open green space, turn left at the top and follow the tree line.
**Cross over the driveway, and carry on up the pavement, until you see an informal pathway into the woods on your left. If you hit the bus stop and the next side road, you’ve gone too far. Turn left into the woods and follow the pathway; shortly after entering there is a large mound with tree roots - you will need to take a right around this before rejoining the pathway on the other side. Next you will enter into an open green space. Continue with direction from No 29.
29. Continue on until you come to a pathway intersection with four possible routes. Carry straight over and through the gap in the hedges into the top of a field with benches to your right. The fields here are glorious Meadows from June/July.
3o. Continue on along the obvious pathway going through another gap in the hedges* into another larger field, with more benches to the right at the top of the field. You can enjoy more views over the reservoir while following the obvious pathway across the field.
*Tree routes prevent disability access so turn left and go down the hill until you come to a level access gap in the trees and go through. You can either then ‘u turn’ up the field on the other side of the trees, to rejoin the route, and follow directions from No 31. Or, stay by the fence line and follow the path across the bottom of the field into the next field where the Picnic Area is and where you started.
31. You come out on the road where you started, near the Picnic Area. Turn left, and left again into the field, where the car parking spaces begin. Make an immediate right, with the brambles and road to your right, and reservoir to your left. Walk on until you reach the Picnic Area.