Tag: Wenlock Edge

Hope Dale

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, WalksLeave a comment

We’re out on the Wenlock Edge, on a beautiful July afternoon. The air is fresh after overnight rain, there’s a pleasant breeze, and plenty of sunshine. We start from the small car park at Harton Hollow, and follow the lane via Middlehope to Wetmore Farm. There are hundreds of butterflies, of several varieties, but none of them are willing to pose for the camera. And there’s a peacock! It’s not the most scenic of walks to Wetmore – the hedges are ten or twelve feet high, though there are views from the occasional field gate. From Wetmore, we head on up to the edge path – at first, it skirts the woodland, and there’s a good view down into the dale and beyond. Then we’re amongst the trees – very pleasant open deciduous woodland, with a good path along the crest of the Wenlock Edge to take us back to the car.

Map

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=349460&Y=288786&A=Y&Z=120

Pyramids

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Orchids – little conical-topped ones – dozens and dozens of them. And one solitary (greater?) butterfly orchid (they’re not common). We’re walking on Wenlock Edge, the same route we followed on a misty day in February (see “A hazy day on Wenlock Edge“). It’s virtually midsummer now – no mist today, instead there’s warm sunshine, and it’s pleasant in the cool shade under the trees.

The map below is the one used in February:
today we walked clockwise – out below the edge, back along it.

MapView OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=359285&Y=298596&A=Y&Z=120

Sheinton to Harley, Wigwig and Homer

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Life under the edge

There’s many a double-take by passing motorists on the Shrewsbury – Wenlock road – “Did that sign really point the way to Wigwig and Homer?”. Yes, a hamlet and a small village well-hidden, despite the sign, beneath the northern end of the Wenlock Edge. This was a very pleasant circuit, starting from Sheinton, following farm lanes and tracks past Belswardyne Hall to Harley. “Look at that – the sun’s got a halo”. There’s no need to enter quiet Harley village, and it means crossing the busy A458 twice – but it saves walking beside the noisy road. The lane to Wigwig crosses what was once a ford, and probably still is in very wet weather. In Homer, we leave the road and take to fields of sheep, followed by attractive woodland beside Sheinton brook, then more fields of sheep – and we’re back in Sheinton.

Map

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=361005&Y=302661&A=Y&Z=120

Better weather

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, Walks3 Comments

It’s grey and damp today – but Friday and Saturday afternoons were positively springlike. There are few signs of spring, but the air is warmer, the breeze less biting. Friday’s wander was around Coalbrookdale, up and down through the woodlands. Yesterday was Wenlock’s turn, heading through the town, up past the windmill and along the edge.

Coalbrookdale:

Much Wenlock and the edge:

A hazy day on Wenlock Edge

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, Walks1 Comment

The views wouldn’t be great today. It was very hazy, and there was little chance of sunshine. A walk in woodland might be good – how about Wenlock Edge? There’s a little NT car park where the Hughley road leaves the Wenlock – Stretton road. We could walk along the edge path above the quarries, then back along the track through the woods, a little lower down. We could walk, that is, where the path was fit for walking. No farmers’ tractors this time, just the popularity of the path to blame for the mud, in places barely passable. There may not have been any distant views – a clearing in the trees provides a viewpoint for the Wrekin, way beyond the limit of visibility this afternoon – but it was pleasantly atmospheric, and was it a touch warmer than recently?

MapView OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=359285&Y=298596&A=Y&Z=120

Munslow Mud

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, Walks2 Comments

Saturday afternoon: we’re out on the Wenlock Edge, enjoying some winter sunshine. There was a moderate sprinkling of snow at home – perhaps there would be a bit more up on the edge? No such luck – just an occasional dusting to prove we were in the same county. Sadly, one or two short stretches of the (public foot)path have been deeply churned by tractor tyres and are almost unwalkable. In fact they are unwalkable. The only progress that can be made – very cautious hedge-hanging, slithering and clambering out of one rut into another – cannot be described as walking. We’ve walked these same paths and tracks in previous winters, and one or two stretches can get a bit sticky, but now they’re seriously damaged. (Did the local farmer get a new tractor for Christmas? One of those really huge, heavy monsters that completely fill the lanes? I hope it came with a rut-filling attachment…)

Westhope and Diddlebury Common

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I’m reliably informed that it’s pronounced “Delbury” (as in the nearby Delbury Hall). This was a very pleasant four-mile wander around Westhope, the most south-westerly “hope” on the Wenlock Edge. The woodlands are increasingly autumnal; the paths through the fields are not always obvious or well-marked (potato fields are not easy to cross). Westhope itself is a quiet hamlet; its college offers craft courses, of which there’s evidence on the wall, and its teas would be splendid, I’m sure, if this was high summer and the rooms were open. The nearby pigs are entertaining…


A Wilderhope Walk

On By geoffspagesIn Shropshire hills, Walks2 Comments

We’ve done it before, more then once – from the end of the surfaced lane up onto the edge, then south-eastwards along the crest to the point where it peters out, almost at the main road. There’s a red kite quartering Corvedale, gradually working its way southwards and out of sight. The return route follows the stream, barely a trickle today, before tending away to its west and up to the manor house, where there’s tea and coffee, but we’re too late for the cakes – they’re all gone. A Twix will suffice – it’s not far back to the car.