Another fine, sunny day – just a bit too hazy for the views, but great weather for a walk on the southern Long Mynd. Start at Priors Holt (Malcolm Saville’s “Witchend”), follow forestry tracks to the top of the Mynd, then turn southwards to Plowden, and contour back via Church Moor.

Hen Batch

In the forest

Out of the forest

Lunch beside the pool

Handless

South Mynd sheep

Hazy day
   

Plowden

Mushroom with a view

Another fine specimen

Out via the old railway track, back via Arlescott. The weather was far too good to stay at home…

Much Wenlock
   

Arlescott

The path ahead

Harrowed Ground

Parasol Mushroom

Elderberries

A walk on the Brown Clee, starting from the parking space below Nordy Bank hill fort, up to Clee Burf then along the ridge to Abdon Burf. The return route was via the top stretch of the incline, then contouring around the hill back to the road near Cockshutford. The weather forecast was optimistic…

Clee Hill Sheep

The road to Clee Burf

Toadstools…

   

Nice spot for lunch

Dog walkers at the summit (the only other people I saw)

The top of Shropshire

Remains from quarrying days
   

Top of the incline

More sheep… Contouring back towards the car

Walking the Stiperstones ridge on a fine September day

   

   

   

   

A walk from Little Stretton to Pole Bank – up the Ashes Hollow, back along the ridge and down into Small Batch…

Small copper on the path

Near the top

Pole Bank – lunchtime.

Almost back – view to Church Stretton

A sprawling grassy hill about five miles east of Llanidloes, in mid-Wales, reaches a little over 1900’ (the OS map indicates a maximum of 584m). Getting on for 20 years ago, a wind farm was constructed here – one of the biggest in Europe, with no fewer than 103 turbines.  Their generating capacity is 30.9 megawatts – during their expected lifetime of 25 years, that’s apparently equivalent to nearly 1.5m tons of CO2

A surfaced road provides easy access from the A483 Newtown – Llandrindod road to a small parking area – from where an easy walk takes one up to the “Fferm Gwynt”. The hilltop is access land, so there’s no problem with exploration, though a sign at the gate warns of the perils of icy conditions and thunderstorms…

The views from the hill are extensive and panoramic, ranging from the Shropshire hills to the Brecon Beacons, with much of mid-Wales in view to the west – and the generators themselves make an interesting subject for the camera.

Mid-Wales – the road from Welshpool to the coast passes through the village of Llanerfyl, from where a mountain road leads to Talerddig. A mile or so along this road, a narrow dead-end road leads up to some very quiet hill country, marshy grassland decorated with a number of small lakes – tarns, perhaps – the Scots would calls them lochans. Not sure there’s a Welsh equivalent – they’re all llynau, whatever size… Here are a few snaps taken on Mynydd Waun Fawr, on a beautifully sunny but cold afternoon.

High above Oswestry, right on the Welsh border, the remains of the old racecourse provide an airy route for a walk on a cold winter’s afternoon

Yet more snow for Shropshire (and more still to come, if the forecast is to be believed). As my grandfather would have described it, “it snew and snew and snew”

The sun came out this afternoon, and the local snow soon melted, but there was still a covering in the shadier corners of Shropshire’s hill country – just right for a walk around Heath Mynd, a quiet corner of moorland, with fine views and, on this occasion, a red kite. I’ve seen several in the county over the last two or three years – this was the first I’ve been able to photograph.

Sunshine? What’s that? Had hoped for a sunny afternoon on Beacon Hill, near Knighton, Powys, on Sunday – the forecast suggested fairly clear skies. The views up there are extensive – looking perhaps 40 miles to the south, there seemed to be fairly clear skies… The gloom on Beacon Hill worsened in the short time we were there (it was very cold too) – I suppose it didn’t snow much…