Gate to the riverside, Stourport-on-Severn

Image: © P L Chadwick Taken: 19 Feb 2012

This is the end of a private road from Areley Lane, over which there is a public bridleway. People and horses can go around the gate, which is presumably here to ensure that only authorised vehicles can get to the riverside, which is in the background. Once past the gate, walkers can go in either direction along a public footpath, which runs alongside the River Severn. Strangely the bridleway ends at the river bank, so theoretically horse riders can only turn around and come back the way they came. Certainly there are obstacles to horses at various points on the riverside footpath, which would make it unsuitable for horse riding. Most likely the bridlepath dates from the days of horse-drawn boats, when the navigation went a great deal further upstream than Stourport-on-Severn. This might perhaps have been a point where horses were changed?

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