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…

It’s been a little while since I updated the “Walks with a Camera“. It’s not that we haven’t been out and about – far from it. However, most expeditions in the last 12 months or so have been fairly short local wanders, which hardly seemed to deserve a page (perhaps, before too long, some “Shropshire Shorties”?)
Anyway, here’s an account of a reasonable-length ramble to the top of Shropshire’s highest hill – at 1772′, surely it deserves a page of its own? Visit “Brown Clee and the Boyne” for the usual illustrated account.

It’s almost the end of May, and a pretty poor week it’s been, weatherwise. But the forecast for Thursday was good – time for a walk, in the south Shropshire hills. We’ve walked up the Long Mynd’s eastern valleys many times – today we would walk from the west, exploring some very quiet country (and finishing with a fine pint at the Horseshoe Inn). Visit “Back of the Mynd” on “Walks with a Camera”

Kerry Hill sunbeams

Originally uploaded by geoffspages

Friday 8th Feb: The weather in Shropshire was sunny – Kerry Hill wasn’t, though the sun tried (and failed) to break through from time to time. Visit “Kerry Hill” on “Walks with a Camera” for a full account of our explorations in the Welsh border country