Category: Walks

Short walks with photos and a Google map.

Walking from Wenlock to Broseley

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Tea and cake at Benthall Hall…

We’ve done it before, but last time, the Hall was only open at weekends. Now, it’s open (March to October – closed in the winter) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays too. There’s a tea room, with some tables and seats outside – and it’s just nicely half-way on this walk – perfect!

There are only four buses each day, but the Arriva no. 88 service is ideal for this one (and there’s entertainment value in the negotiation of some of Broseley’s narrower streets, where “anywhere” is the rule for car parking).

There are several possible routes from Benthall Hall to Broseley; most involve field paths and tracks before walking through the streets. On this occasion, we walked down surfaced lanes, to enter Broseley by the “Fiery Fields”.

NOTE for tea drinkers: the tea room is inside the hall, which would require payment of an admission charge; the outside area is not accessible though the hall, but whether one should pay, I’m not sure – we’re members anyway. The Hall is well worth a visit – but muddy feet (and ours were) would not be appreciated…

Bus timetable | Benthall Hall NT

Callow Hollow

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The Long Mynd’s eastern valleys are several and varied – some are valleys, some (most) are batches. There’s a dale and a gutter too – and a couple of hollows. If we count the side valleys off those main valleys… Perhaps not. I’ve been exploring the Mynd for many years, but until very recently, I had not quite digested one rather odd fact born out by the 1:25,000 map: many (perhaps most) of those side valleys have names – except for Ashes Hollow, whose side valleys are nameless. (I’m sure they’re not, but there are no names on the map).

Ashes Hollow runs down to Little Stretton. Next, joining Ashes at its foot, is Small Batch (aptly named), then there’s Callow Hollow. Ashes Hollow is perhaps the next-best known after Cardingmill (Valley), not least due to the camp site occupying its last few yards. Callow is one of the least known, despite being of comparable scenic value, largely because, until relatively recently, there was no easy access to its foot. We met no-one else on foot throughout the walk (just one cyclist, and a farmer in his pickup). And, like so many of these valleys (batches, hollows etc….), once we’re just a few yards in, there’s nothing man-made in sight, until we reach the plateau and the road.

Beacon Hill: peaty pools

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There’s a real sense of wilderness on these border hills. Shropshire lies on the opposite bank of the Teme, but Beacon Hill could easily be somewhere much more remote. It could have been quite tricky too, if Shropshire’s fog hadn’t given way to a cloudless sky as we headed west into Powys.

The walk would have been a very wet one a month ago – there’s plenty of evidence of February’s dyke-filling downpours, where animals have churned the ground in some of the wetter places. But mostly it’s really good underfoot – springy turf and heather moor, with delightful peaty pools reflecting the sky’s deep blue. It’s quiet too – apart from one or two vehicles on the lane up from Beguildy, the only sounds are from the sheep and the birds. And yes – this is red kite country, though they’re never quite close enough for the camera.

Bring me sunshine

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Two bright, sunny afternoons – too good to waste…

Monday: a walk from Linley to Bridgnorth. I had a lift to the starting point, for a walk which should be well-timed for a lift home again. Down in the valley, out of the wind, I began to wonder if I should have left my jacket behind. The old railway track would provide a reasonable surface if the river-bank path was too sticky – in the event, it wasn’t bad at all.

Tuesday: A walk to Benthall Hall – an old favourite. The tea-room at the hall was a bonus – hadn’t realised it was open mid-week, so early in the season…

Benthall Hall NT

 

The Pike

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Nothing fishy about this walk… The Pike is a rocky ridge which provides a quick route up to the Long Mynd plateau, for this (relatively) high level route. We look back to Badbury Ring, the hill fort on the edge of the golf course, before heading west to pick up the Portway and the path to Pole Bank, highest point of the Mynd. We can stay on the plateau until the last minutes of this walk, when the path descends steeply to the edge of the woods fringing Church Stretton. Now it’s just a short walk back to the car, descending the track back into Cardingmill Valley. It’s only six miles in total, but we spent most of the afternoon on it – it was too good to hurry, much better to stop and look around, and enjoy the day.

Upton Cressett

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A walk in quiet country between Bridgnorth and Ditton Priors. Things are improving underfoot, but slowly – much of this walk is on surfaced lanes, and where it isn’t, there’s no shortage of mud. Upton Cressett is a remarkable little hamlet. Its 12th century church, redundant since 1970, is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. We thought it might be open, but we couldn’t get in, and had to be content with squinting through the window.

Two summits

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A walk on Brown Clee – up to Abdon Burf, the county’s highest point, then across the high ground (squelchy in places) to the southern top, Clee Burf. It’s a fine breezy afternoon, though there are one or two showers about. We caught one briefly – it had blown over before the rain began to look serious. There were one or two more further west, creating some dramatic skies.

Quiet ways from Morville

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It’s a dry and mild afternoon, with the chance of some sunshine. The field paths continue to be worth avoiding, but there are quiet tracks and lanes north of Morville. The drive to Aldenham Park looks private, but it forms a public footpath, which leads to the unsurfaced track to the pools at Hurst Farm. From here onwards, we’re on a hard surface. We return to Morville along roads which, like so many others in these parts, are very quiet.

Fferm wynt

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That’s “wind farm” in Welsh – we’re at Llandinam farm, not far south of Newtown. The well-made shale roads around the site, which is almost entirely on access land, provide an excellent surface for walking in these wet times. It wasn’t wet this afternoon though – it was fine and sunny, with enough wind for the turbines but just a gentle breeze at ground level. Whatever their pros and cons, a wander around this large site is enjoyable – the views are extensive, and the turbines make interesting graphic shapes against the sky. And there’s undoubtedly something graceful about their synchronised twirling.