A circular Risley to Hopwell Hall Walk (hence RHW). A little under 4½ miles in total, with 21 caches – not many stiles, but a bit hilly in places, and parts of it can get very muddy. The final section is along the main road, so please be careful.
You’re best to park somewhere on the main Derby Road, probably near the church. There is a multi-cache along the way – easy enough to solve, but I would strongly recommend that you do the series in the numbered sequence! When you get to Hopwell Hall please make sure you keep to the footpath, which is very easy to follow – they do get a bit fussy about it! And watch out for horses too, as along this stretch it is also a bridlepath.
None of the caches are meant to be at all difficult to find – the aim of the walk is to get people out to admire the lovely countryside and fantastic views, and, from time to time, to pick up a little local history too.
You will NEED a pen, and you are also likely to NEED tweezers. If you can’t find a cache, please log a DNF or let me know – I don’t want any throw-downs along the route please.
===========================================
You now need to cross a "little bridge" over the Golden Brook before going up the hill on the other side. It was around here that the Risley Lanx was discovered in the 18th century. And when you get to the top of the hill you can read all about it (in fact, you will have to read all about it if you want to find the multi cache!)
The Terrain rating for this one has been set for autumn/winter caching - probably should be a notch lower in the summer.
The Little Bridges series was started by Stanthews in 2009 to highlight small footbridges in remote parts of Wiltshire. Since then the series has been expanded by others all over the country and starting to spread fast. There is a stats listing, so you can see how many Little Bridges you have found, you can find it here:- https://littlebridgesseries.wordpress.com/ . If you would like to add to the series, please go to the stats web site/Get Involved and click Number Request. To qualify, the bridge must be a foot bridge too small for vehicles, please make sure your title exactly matches “Little Bridges # xxxx then the name” including spaces so it will get picked up and added to stats list.