Category: Walks

Short walks with photos and a Google map.

Walking from Bedlam

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It’s a handy place to leave the car! Too warm for energetic walks up hills – best to stay under the trees where possible, even if there aren’t many photo opportunities. If we walk downstream on the north bank, we can return to Ironbridge  on the south bank, along the old railway track – and we’ll have earned an ice cream by the time we’re there. Refreshments disposed of, it’s a short walk back to Bedlam, and we can do most of it away from the road.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=368940&Y=302726&A=Y&Z=120

Finding the Pyramids

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, Walks1 Comment

A fine June afternoon – bright sunshine, white puffy clouds (and the chance of a shower? No, surely not?). It’s a sausage-shaped walk, where our outward route, below the crest of the Wenlock Edge, is only 100 yards or so from our return – but also lower by a similar extent. The path through the trees is very pleasant, with the sun at our backs, but the return along the ridge is more open – and here are the pyramids! They’re orchids, dozens of them, scattered here and there in the dry grass beside the path. With plentiful pink and white wild rose, honeysuckle and (as we used to call them) “dog daisies”, it’s a colourful part of the world.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=359215&Y=298296&A=Y&Z=120

On the Chase in June

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We’re heading for Cannock Chase – the weather forecast says it should stay dry (it did), while showers would affect western Shropshire in the afternoon (they did). It’s not a great day, photographically – the clouds are heavy and ominous, and there’s no real sunshine – but it’s very enjoyable to explore the heathland, which varies in appearance and feel as we make our way around. A fairly long one today – just short of 10 miles – so we’ve earned our tea and cake at the visitor centre…

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=399085&Y=317611&A=Y&Z=120

Bears and the Mynd

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If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise…

That may be true, for the unsuspecting, but I must admit that I’d hoped we might find them… They’re in the trees beside the Long Mynd Hotel, and rather fine they are too. We’re taking a walk on the Mynd, from a different starting point – the little car park at the top of Cunnery Road, and making a small ursine detour before tackling the steep path up the Ashlet hillside. We’ll walk towards the Boiling Well, before cutting across to the top of the Light Spout valley, to return to the start past the waterfall, down the Carding Mill valley and through Rectory Woods. A very pleasant outing, perfect for this cold (is this really June?), windy but dry afternoon.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=343480&Y=294411&A=Y&Z=120

Wenlock to Perkley

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An easy wander to the south-west of Wenlock, on the last day of (meteorological) spring. There are wild flower meadows, fields of wheat, barley, oats and potatoes (and oilseed rape, almost completely faded), and hidden ways between lines of trees. Other than the power station chimney and cooling towers (not for much longer) it’s a rural and unspoiled landscape.

View OD map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=361430&Y=298891&A=Y&Z=120

The Bannister’s Round

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It’s become a favourite – a very enjoyable circular route from Much Wenlock, down through Traps Coppice and into Bannister’s Coppice, then beside Sheinton Brook and back up through Homer. There was a chance of rain earlier in the afternoon – this route is mostly in attractive woodland, but in the event we didn’t need shelter. By the time we’d topped the edge above Homer, the day had changed for the better.

View OS map on Streetmap http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=362175&Y=301916&A=Y&Z=120

Topley and The Speller

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, WalksLeave a comment

Another afternoon that’s too good to waste… We’re starting at the top of the Rushbury to Beambridge road, where it crests the Wenlock Edge, and walking around the rotund hill at Topley, along quiet farm lanes and tracks. Our return takes us through Upper Millichope and intriguingly-named “The Speller”, just one part of more extensive woodlands hereabout. It’s attractive country too – walking uphill, back towards the edge, we’re in deciduous territory, where the sunshine dapples the undergrowth. Lastly, buttercup meadows lead us to the track along the edge, back to the start.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=352060&Y=289946&A=Y&Z=120

Looks like rain…

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There could be one or two showers this afternoon, the forecast suggested. The clouds were dropping unsubtle hints too. We’d better not stray too far, and preferably somewhere where there might be shelter. We’ll walk down to Coalport – if it rains, we can enjoy our tea and cakes indoors. A few drops began to fall as we approached the old railway bridge at the bottom of the lane – ten minutes later, it had cleared and we were on our way again.  Fed and watered at the YHA cafe, we’re heading back up the dingle, where the wild garlic is still flowering, and to those with a sense of smell, making its presence known…

Hilbre Islands

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Not as exotic as they sound, these low tidal islands are in the mouth of the Dee estuary. The closest, “Little Eye” (which, I suspect, translates appropriately as “little island”) is barely a kilometre distant from the ice-cream stall at West Kirby. That kilometre is a major obstacle when the tide’s in, but a couple of hours after high tide, the sands (and muds – we brought some home with us…) here are walkable, in waterproof footwear or bare feet. Once there, we’re in a very different world – more than ever, I’m conscious that the photographs may convey the appearance of this little archipelago, but not the feel of being there.

From Little Eye, we make our way to Little Hilbre, where there’s a good spot to sit for a few minutes and enjoy our lunch, before continuing to Hilbre Island itself. The rock formations are wonderful, and there’s a blaze of colour in the abundant thrift (“sea pink”, my companion calls it) and other plant life. At the north end of Hilbre is a deserted lifeboat station, and beyond that, open water. Seals peer up, waiting to reclaim their rocks when the visitors leave. That’s all that’s left for us to do – apart from the aforementioned ice creams, of course. What a great little expedition this has been!

The Friends of Hilbre

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=319560&Y=387436&A=Y&Z=120