Walk North Malvern - Colwall

A guide to the route and geology of the North Malvern to Colwall section of the Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark Way. This long distance trail covers 109 miles from Bridgnorth in Shropshire to Gloucester Cathedral.

From the towering northern end of the Malverns, you walk over an ancient piece of Avalonia, the small tectonic plate which has its origin close to the south pole in Precambrian times, as a series of volcanic island arcs. Subsequently, Avalonia detached from the vast southern continent of Gondwana and began a dramitic drift north to its present location. The walk takes you over the highest parts of the Malverns, with the great Triassic Worcestershire Plane to the east and the rolling ridges abd vales of folded Silurian rocks to the west, to end at the village of Colwall Stone.

The app has 5 core views, the default is the Map of the trail, overlain on a geology map derived from the British Geological Survey DiGMapGB-50 (1:50,000 scale) data for the North Malvern to Colwall area. You have this map built into the app, along with all the associated BGS data, which is then always available as you walk, served to your position by GPS or, by simply touching the map if using the app away from the area, or on a device without GPS. The map can be zoomed to x4.

The Photos view contains a series of pictures taken along the walk, from the perspective of someone walking in either direction – you select which direction to view. When you use the app in the area, images and information relevant to your location are served to you. You can also virtually walk the path – perhaps to get a feel in advance of how challenging the terrain will be. Linked to the Photos view are 3D sections of the geology and reconstructions of ancient environments.

The Location view provides position data and optionally will record your walk and provide an updated estimate of how long to it will take you to complete.

The Information view provides links to the organisations, including the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, who founded and continue to promote and manage the Geopark and the trail.

The app has all required data loaded and does not require cellular or WiFi connectivity in the field – just a charged battery.

The app contains a great deal of detailed visual data and is optimally used in the field on devices with screen sizes in the 5 to 7 inch range – larger tablet screens are great too, but can be tiring to hold for a long time and are less easily stored away in a pocket or backpack.