Had a good day's walking last Tuesday in the Shropshire Hills.It was 9 1/4 miles with lots of up and down(sorry haven't yet figured out how to get the gps to tell me total ascent
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The starting point was the Cardingmill valley where there is ample parking although national Trust car park so better have your wallet/purse handy.Tip....if you're going to eat lunch before setting off stay inside the car as at one point we were surrounded by man eating..ok sandwich hunting sheep knocking their heads on the car doors!!!Heres looking up the valley near the start of the walk
A good stiff climb followed on a good path to reach the Shropshire Way.Near the top the views started to open out
The top of the Long Mynd is huge and flat...a bit like Kinder Scout but with heather clad moorland instead of peat.It reminded me alot of exmoor up here.Upon meeting the Shropshire way path we headed for the summit of The Long Mynd, Pole Bank.....
On a clear day the view from the top would have been cracking and the mountains of Wales easily visible.As it was the weather was quite hazy and I just couldn't get a good photo so gave up lol.Form the top we decided to head towards Little Stretton.I really enjoyed this part of the walk as we were following a huge grassy path so navigation was fairly simple and the views back across to The Wrekin, Caer caradoc and Ragleth Hill were fab.Its kinda like walking in the mountains but on a smaller scale..mini mountains!This was the view into Ashes Hollow..
On the way down we came upon a large group of ponies, some with foals awww...at this point I became rather worried and started to wonder if anyone had ever been killed by stampeeding ponies ???I would have loved to take a photo but I was too busy sneaking past trying not to make eye contact!!I got to here before I dared....they are in the distance so you still can't see them but look at the nice path
From here it all went a bit t**s up, as we are still novice map readers we managed to take the wrong path and had walked for a good half a mile before we realised that we were in fact heading back upto the top!!Even worse the path we should have taken went straight up and some miserable sod had not bothered putting a step upto the top of the stile
.After huffing and puffing to the top of this path we proceeded to then head back down again across farmland which then became woods.Upon reaching a road the path then goes straight back up...AGAIN....and climbs up gently through what under normal circumstances be lovely woodland.There were lots of wild flowers and masses of bluebells..we were just soooo weary and praying for a bit of level or down!!The final down bit(or so we thought) was through a park passing by an old Edwardian reservoir.We could hear and see the traffic at Church Stretton and were thrilled that we were nearly back to the car...when......NNNOOOOOOOOOOO...Steps....bloody big steps...heading straight up.A nearby sign said it was called the hundred steps....lying gits.At this point I became a bit hysterical and some daft remark had me crying with laughter..which made climbing the steps even harder.It was then a nice gentle path back down to the valley and car which I have never been so glad to see in all my life!!!I know..I'm a wimp but it had been tough on the legs this walk
.All in all a very enjoyable day out.
