In 2024 two new ‘walks’ were added to the Geopark Way app. Except, these are not really walks, but audio stories to accompany you on a train journey in the Geopark.

The journey is on the Severn Valley Railway, a heritage railway running between the towns of Kidderminster and Bridgnorth in the english counties of Worcestershire and Shropshire. The line runs close to the River Severn through the northern heart of the Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark and in many places close to the Geopark Way, the long distance walking trail from Bridgnorth to Gloucester.

As described in the audio sample, you can set the ‘walk’ running on your phone, plug-in your headphones or ear pods and sit back and listen to the information unfold as the train moves forward.

I’m new to all this, so how do I get this app?

On your phone or iPad/tablet, open the app store. The icon for this is called ‘App Store’ on an Apple device and ‘Play Store’ on an Android device.

In the search faciity, enter ‘Geoparkway’, that will bring up the app and you can select to install it,

Once installed, open it and choose ‘Select your walk’, from where you can select to download to your device one of the SVR ‘walks’, or any of the others.

Always aim to download your ‘walk’ where you have WiFi, don’t leave it until you arrive at the start of the walk, when you will probably need to rely on the mobile phone network. Once a walk is downloaded, the app has no need of the mobile phone network, or any WiFi. So no cost for mobile data, or roaming data charges.

For the Severn Valley Railway audio journeys, you need to ensure you have an up to date version of the app, in order to get audio playing automatically as the train travels. For that, you need for Apple, version 1.6 or later and if you have an Android device, version 2.1 or later.

If you have installed/updated the app since late September 2024, nothing to worry about, you are good to go.

Allowing Location

If you are using the Geopark Way app for the very first time, or maybe you have just done a new version installation, then make sure you allow the app to use Location before setting off.

Do this by downloading any walk, open it and touch the button that is labelled ‘Map’. A screen like that shown opposite will then open – this example is on an iPhone, but it will be similar on Android. Select ‘Allow While Using App‘ – on Android ‘Allowed only when in use‘.
Once you have made this choice you never need to repeat it, unless you delete and later reinstall the app, so this screen will not appear again when selecting a map.

Not allowing the app access to the phones/tablets location (GPS data) will result in your locstion not being shown on maps and audio and other content will not update to your current location.

What to do if you have previously denied Location?

On Apple, open the Settings app
Then open Privacy & Security.
Next select Location Services (can be set on/off globally for all apps).
Then scroll down to GeoparkWay, where there is the option beside the apps name to set the level of Location access.

On Android, open the Setttings app
Then scroll down and open Location (note the global Use Location, which needs to be on)
Next open App location permissions
Scroll down to find GeoparkWay, open it
Then you have aceess to the apps Location settings.
Use precise location should also be on.

Fully charged battery

Set off with a fully charged battery.  Tests found the battery lasted, with spare capacity, on a standard phone for all day use on a journey from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth and back to Kidderminster.

I downloaded a walk and now its gone!

You downloaded into the app your chosen ‘walks’. Then when you next open the app, as you are about to start out, the downloads have been deleted.

Hope you never meet this, but the risk of it happening is high if you are using a device that is nearly full, with all those thousands of photos and other things.  Apple and Google require that downloaded content, which can be recovered, i.e. by downloading it again, be held in temporary storage that can be cleared out when the phone is getting too full and needs the space, say to update something.
So the messge is, always check your downloaded walks are still there before you set off and are easily able to be download again.

The simplest is to open SVR Starting Kidderminster or SVR Starting Bridgnorth as appropriate, put on your headphones/ear buds, place your phone in your pocket and leave it to do its stuff once the train gets moving. It will come up with a ‘place of intrest’ announcement as you move into the area of either Kidderminster or Bridgnorth station.

If you would like to follow your journey on a map, then select Map. The pulsing blue dot will show your location as the train travels. Touching the blue numbered squares and some other locations on the map, will jump the audio story to that location. However, after a brief delay the app will restore itself to your current location.

The Show Rocks button will add a coloured layer showing the different rocks, along with just a selection of the many geological faults in the area. As you travel the name of the current rock below is also displayed.

The arrow near the top right corner, will slide out a geological timescale which is tracking the age of the rocks you are travelling across. This timescale (from 4.6 billion yeara ago) gives global information for a particular time, along with a further slide-out showing some of the animals and plants present at that time, based on the fossil record.

If you spot the camera button appear in the app, then an image of a creature from the deep past is available ifor you to take photos/selfies with. Dont’ hang around, the button will not show for long.

Touch the camera button and the app will open your devices camera with the creature overlain on the camera view. But first, if you have not used this before in the app, two permissions must be given. The first is to give Geopark Way to use the camera, the second for permission to access your photo storage on the phone.

You can position, scale and rotate the creature overlay by the gestures you normally use on a phone screen to do carry out such actions. If you loose sight of the creature, reset will position, scale and rotate it to the defaults.

Exit camera takes you back into the app where you left it when touching the camera button.

The photos you take will be found in your devices photo gallery.
The photo will have added to it the name of the creature, a few facts about it, plus a scale – important as you can create the impression the creature is vastly bigger, or smaller than the fossil evidence indicates it typically was.

Some examples plus additional guidance on using this feature.
All the walks available in the Geopark Way app contain hidden creatures, appropriate to the times of the rocks you are crossing, be creative and have fun!