Author Topic: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!  (Read 5293 times)

barewirewalker

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If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« on: 21:09:18, 10/06/10 »
I took the bus from Shrewsbury to Much Wenlock, had the notion to walk to Ironbridge, and I had been told that the disused railway line had been opened so that it is possible to walk from there through to Bridgnorth.  
Before I go any further this is untrue, not my story but the urban myth that the old line is a straight through walk to Bridgnorth.  
This particular morning it Pithests Down, shelter was sought in the coffee shop in the square of MW, where the tea and coffee was hot and the welcome was warm, the crack from the locals who revelled in the fact that I was in for a wet day was overwhelming.  
   
Given the misleading information, I decided to walk without a map, not something I normally do, if ever. I thought I would try to re-enact the scenario I so often see of those brave young things who buy a pair of boots, perhaps a rucksack, put a lead on the dog (possibly children) and head off to follow the fingerposts.  
I quickly found the old line, newly hard cored and with undergrowth recently slashed back. Densely treed as modern lines are, that have trains slithering to a halt over fallen leaves, I peered out at the surrounded countryside, whilst the canopy above periodically directed a dollop of rain water splat on my paramo. This was liberation, I was striding along this historically engineered level way, to the heart of the Industrial Revolution.  
The way twisted and turned until I came to the Farley crossing, there was no sign or I missed it due to seasonal vegetation, veered left onto the busy Wenlock – Buildwas road, peering through the trees I saw the ancient train way below, no fence so I slithered down the embankment, wishing I had bought my newly acquired walking pole with me.  
Back on the flat I made like a vertical limbo dancer as I snaked my way through the small trees growing out of the hardway, ahead a tall arch of a bridge appeared amongst the leafy canopy. Beyond I was amongst evident building work and behind a property that was part of the original railway, still amongst trees and woodland vegetation but with feeling that I am now obviously trespassing, I adopted the pose and slunk along my line of the railtrack as it lead deeper into woodland. Thinking that I was clear, I was startled by a sound at ‘half past four’, a quick twist of the head to my right gave me a view of slobbering fangs and bristling tan fur erupting from a kennel secreted in the undergrowth off the way. Realising that I was without the comfort of a stick, I executed that straight legged acceleration, adopted by rugby professionals leaving the scrum area after a neat pick up, behind me the unfriendly visage of a Rottweillor with a 2inch steel chain unravelling from the  kennel like an anchor chain loose from a hawse hole. The beast was fortunately morbidly obese, not that would have helped much had it caught up with me, it was obviously dependant on large meals and I am not of the build that satisfies large carnivores. It did however alter the structure of its kennel when it came to the end of its tether, as 2 inch links of best steel finally crunched into the form of an iron bar, my last two strides took me clear of slavering jaws.  
The wooded glade echoed to a chorus of doggy tunes, as I bowed my leave to their encores, 50 yds down the track I came across a way mark.  
A proper RoW was leading the un-wary down into this death trap from the direction opposite, from whence I had come.  
« Last Edit: 21:16:00, 10/06/10 by barewirewalker »
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

susiej

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #1 on: 21:13:42, 10/06/10 »
 :o :o Yikes! BWW that sounds absolutely terrifying! although you wrote it in such an amusing way, I confess I did snigger...glad you got away without becoming another couple of inches on the Rotters waistline
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barewirewalker

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #2 on: 21:45:54, 10/06/10 »
:o :o Yikes! BWW that sounds absolutely terrifying! although you wrote it in such an amusing way, I confess I did snigger...glad you got away without becoming another couple of inches on the Rotters waistline

Thankyou fair lady for such a thoughtful post to my maiden topic on this forum, though I fear there is insufficient of me to to expand the beasts girth by two inches, perhaps an inch and five eights would be generous. :-[
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

Southern Stroller

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #3 on: 23:28:22, 10/06/10 »
Good to read your comments again BWW - used to read them on both LFTO and RA.  You should write a book (or perhaps you already have?).   You made it sound so real I was there with you - I made it out safely too.   
Seriously that sounds horrendous!   Scary stuff.  Glad you survived to tell us all the tale. 

susiej

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #4 on: 23:41:25, 10/06/10 »

Thankyou fair lady for such a thoughtful post to my maiden topic on this forum, though I fear there is insufficient of me to to expand the beasts girth by two inches, perhaps an inch and five eights would be generous. :-[

Luckily the measurement will not be tested!
take it easy...but take it


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amnesiacjimmy

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #5 on: 01:05:17, 11/06/10 »
Maybe you should post a grid ref so no one else gets caught in same trap?  :o   I was bitten by a mad dog last sept and it hurts, and the owner was a right chav who didnt have the decency to say how are you and can i refund you the cost of some new trousers (the ones i had on were 1 day old, and it is very rare i buy new clothes  :( :( )  You have my sympathies. Good cure for constipation tho i imagine...
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barewirewalker

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #6 on: 09:04:40, 11/06/10 »
Good to read your comments again BWW - used to read them on both LFTO and RA.  You should write a book (or perhaps you already have?).   You made it sound so real I was there with you - I made it out safely too.   
Seriously that sounds horrendous!   Scary stuff.  Glad you survived to tell us all the tale.

No book, I'm afraid interferes with the practical aspect of getting out there having these experiences, delighted that you read and remembered my posts, I thought I was boring everyone to death over there. But is was the CW forum then, and it came over all Laura Ashley and they told me I had to re-register. Never got around to it but went back a few months ago and got on without registering.
Was Southern Stroller your handle then.
Perhaps there might be an anthology of my best pieces if there is ever enough of them, you might have to remind me what I wrote about over there :-\
 
I got away with the seat of my pants on this occasion, what concerns me are others who might not and that it is 'attitude' amongst property owners that causes dangerous situations.
BWW
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barewirewalker

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #7 on: 09:28:33, 11/06/10 »
Maybe you should post a grid ref so no one else gets caught in same trap?  :o   I was bitten by a mad dog last sept and it hurts, and the owner was a right chav who didnt have the decency to say how are you and can i refund you the cost of some new trousers (the ones i had on were 1 day old, and it is very rare i buy new clothes  :( :( )  You have my sympathies. Good cure for constipation tho i imagine...

Sorry to hear that, just as well that it was not that mad that it gave you rabies. Was it on a RoW, if so it should be reported to both the police and the RoW people.
 
I got fully fanged on the buttock by a dokey Border Colley a few years back, I think I wrote about on the Old CW forum, just to keep peoples spirits up. Didn't do much harm and the property owner was most solicitous, which reminds me I ought go back and ask after the dog's state of health.

Forgot the map reference, so busy chatting.
Can be found on the Telford, Ironbridge and the Wrekin explorer map 242 - SJ632020 give or take a yard or two at 32 feet/sec/sec.
« Last Edit: 09:33:42, 11/06/10 by barewirewalker »
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

Ridge

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #8 on: 09:47:43, 11/06/10 »
That sounds nasty.
But if you want more sympathy you have to write less amusingly.

barewirewalker

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #9 on: 20:29:37, 12/06/10 »
Met the dog today, gave him a bit of a cuddle, it was the 15 mile route I took to get there that has made me a bit tired. So tell you more later.
BWW
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Starling

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #10 on: 00:38:32, 13/06/10 »
Met the dog today, gave him a bit of a cuddle, it was the 15 mile route I took to get there that has made me a bit tired. So tell you more later.
Don't leave it too long to tell us.  I live nearby so am really looking forward to hearing of your experiences on this "path".  O0 Farley Dingle is a mystery to all but those who 'know'.
 
BTW.
Quote
I had been told that the disused railway line had been opened so that it is possible to walk from there through to Bridgnorth
Never believe anything you're told and always check the map and details first  ;D   Glad you got away unhurt from the Rott.
« Last Edit: 00:43:00, 13/06/10 by Starling in a Cage »
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barewirewalker

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #11 on: 11:54:02, 13/06/10 »
Yesterday I took the same bus that I had taken on Thursday, at 7.45 it whisked me away from Shrewsbury and I decided to get off a Morville. I asked the driver if he could drop me off at the Gateway for Aldenham Park, he would he said if it was safe and he did.  I walked up the half mile avenue towards the house and then veered of NW towards Shirlett and around the southern end of Shirlett Park and then descending down through mixed woodland where deer eyed me disdainfully, before disappearing, I soon found myself in Willey, at the back of Willey Park, home of Lord Forester.  
   
A quick measure around the lordly estate unsullied by common footfall comes at about 1300 acres, a bridleway goes uphill, alongside the high wall of a one time walled garden, I guess, and squeezed between overgrown hawthorn. When the wall finally executes a right angle turn away from the bridleway (it must or have been a massive garden) any view is now obscured by a 5 tree deep planting of young oaks. It is a pleasant enough way as the track drops down towards Deancorner, and it was, I realised, going to deliver me into Broseley in a flick of a deers tail with most of the day still ahead of me.  
   
How about going and visiting my frightening friend of Thursday past I thought, a quick look at the map brought to my attention the unwelcoming prospect of a mile of the B4376, but by reaching the hamlet of Barrow I would get onto the Jack Mytton way (this in my trespassing parlance is known as the RoW Two Step). All I needed now was an excuse, lost pensioner let down by modern technology, the GPS never has a live battery in and only when I want to get a map ref. So I gave it a dirty look and imagined that in its dying gasp it had given me a co-ordinate on Barrow, set my compass to the imagined but correct bearing and with map ready to be secreted about my person set foot on Foresters lordly estate.  
   
The views immediately started to improve rolling parkland open up before my eyes, with trees of many shades dotted all about. Bright sunlight  gave deep shade under spreading chestnuts, where I could move from one to another as I crossed a wide pastured valley, just above a junction in the drive and I gained the woodland edge on the far side. I had already passed through one bit of wood and knew that keepers were constructing their pheasant release pens, so I would be likely to run into obstruction in the woods.  
   
I could look down on the Lodge house at end of the drive but this would put me onto the B4376 and spoil the route. I carried on along the wood edge until a came to a cricket ground, with stiles to let the fielders retrieve balls slogged out of bounds by their more enthusiastic batsmen.  
   
Two fellows in white preparing for the days sport eyed me as I skirted around the wicket and keeping to the boundary I told them that I though they had a lovely ground which it was. They agreed with me and also how bad it was that careless hedging contractors chop of the tops of fingerposts and told me how to get through to Barrow Church where I would meet up with the Jack Mytton way.  
   
I could now set a course for Farley Dingle and hoped to come in on the SE side where I had seen a way mark pointing out and up towards Wyke.  
   
On thursday I had exited the dingle by following the rail track out
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

barewirewalker

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #12 on: 13:39:04, 13/06/10 »
http://willeyparkshoot.com/your_day.html
 
Tried to edit this into above post, just a bit of background material, also
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22903885@N02/2252367579/
 
It looks to be taken from the road at the end of the lake, SO669984.
I guess it must be the only view of the house, taken from a publicly accessible place.
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

barewirewalker

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #13 on: 15:27:37, 17/06/10 »
On Thursday I had exited the dingle by following the rail track out, I had seen a way mark indicating a path up the south side of the dingle. I intended to find the other end of that path and follow it down into the dingle. I set a course to intercept the Shropshire way as the 1: 50k Landranger map shows this path leading West from behind Woodhouse farm to Farley and joining with the highway, whereas the 1: 25k explorer indicates a possible anomalous path that leads to the railway hardway and not to through to the highway.  
The path is a delight as it breaks away from the Shropshire way, as a natural way that leads the walker across a small meadow to a break in the valley rim, from where it slants diagonally down across the slope breaking up into a number of paths, one of them took me to a recently constructed stairway that led down onto the hardway, immediately opposite a matching set of steps were adorned with a notice that told me there was no through way.  
I looked about for signs of a way out in the direction that the map indicates, no visible evidence to give me a clue.  
As I said previously the hardway is used and is clear to walk either way, it is a choice right or left, to the right it tunnels downward into deeper vegetation but to the left the canopy is open and the sounds from the road seem to filter through from that direction. Is this the direction that others might take, beset with the same quandary? It is the direction that will take me into the jaws of death.  
I turn to the left, a brook is to my right, steep, well cleared banks ensured that I stay on the hardway, which curves through the trees and a hint of a clearing starts to emerge but just as I think I have found a way out, there is the kennel.  
It is more of a wendy house, with its proud black and tan owner striding around in front, looking leaner and fitter that my earlier memory, when I must have roused him from a deep sleep.  
With a menacing cacophony of canine fury I have a rerun of the previous event but this time I am standing watching, seeing the chain slick out across the grass, I am half expecting to see the wendy house explode. Before this can happen there is a shout from beyond, dog slows to reluctant halt still uttering aggressive vocals, another shout and vocals subside and dog starts to withdraw.  
A figure emerges from behind a tree, mug in hand,  
“Don’t worry about him, he’s as soft as a brush”.  
Before I can make any explanations for my presence on his property, I am invited up to his house for a cup of tea. I stay rooted to the spot, until my unexpected host, comes forward and takes hold of his now docile pet, who gives me a suspicious sniff as I walk bye.  
I am told, by John, as we walk through an area of ongoing building work that this is the site of Farley Halt (“Him down at the Mill house has the original sign”) and his house was ‘The Rock Inn’. He is hoping to re-open as a pub (“Don’t laugh, I bought the place in 1993”) and we talked about the difficulties of financing ongoing restoration work (“Especially when the Gypsies keep stealing my materials and equipment, that’s the reason for the dogs”).  
I am invited to sit down at a patio table and a large ‘crunchy’ bar is placed there,  
“You will be needing that if you have walked over from Morville, my wife and I like our walking”, John said as he went into the house to make tea. I slip off my rucksack and gratefully take my rest on a chair were I am able to look down on the tiers of newly built patios leading up to this one beside the house, from the old site of the halt which is being levelled as loads of rubble are dropped off by people in the know of John’s need.  A few random piles are brooded over by a mature JCB basking in the sun, beyond which is the high arch of the bridge through which I entered this arena two days ago.  
The blue engineering bricks glow and shimmer in the dappled sunlight, hard endurable bricks moulded from local clay and fired by local coal, the roadway above now carries traffic into a factory hidden behind trees in the disused quarry beyond, but the gaping mouth of this arch seems sullen as if resenting its redundant structure. I imagined groups of walkers, maybe a runner or two, even cyclists dropping down into the cutting by Farley crossing and emerging here to be surprised by John’s tiered patios, maybe a hanging pub sign and people filling tables.  
John emerged from the house with two large mugs of tea and another large ‘Crunchy’ bar, we sat in the sun, sipped tea and nibbled on crunchy bar, whilst I absorbed his information that came from his love of this property and the history of the dingle. I also learnt of torrential flash floods that sporadically hit the dingle, there had been a recent one, it is on these occasions that the Estate that owns the woods are keen to disown them if any damage has been done.   
I had to break it up before I got to seeing his collection of historic photographs, bus to catch, so he escorted me back to the line and untethered the Rottweiler. They are, apparently, not fierce when they are loose, so John informed me, only when they are on the end of a fixed line. I took his word for it and relaxed, the dog came up to me and sat, then leant his weight against my right thigh, I gave his head a stroke then a scratch behind the ears, at which point he looked up at me with great, brown, limpid eyes, where was the ferocity in this animal, I thought as I turned to take my leave and as I walked away only the terrier and a rather unfriendly ginger mutt vented their displeasure at my presence.  
   
I walked on down to the property beside the footpath, where I had accessed the hardway, crossing the bridge with the ‘no through way’ sign I called through a doorway into an enclosed yard. I was immediately answered by a ‘come on in’ and given a friendly welcome, enquiring about my walk,(“ you’ve been up to Johns I expect, I could hear the dogs a while back, he’s had stuff taken by the Gypsies, so have I ”) I explained my difficulty in reaching the highway and was freely offered passage through his garden. No this was not what I wanted as I was keen to find the proper route through, so he happily led me back across the bridge pointing out all the hedge trimming he does to keep the trail open (“I walked most of the trails in the wood and like to keep them open, the estate do little, so when people come to stay they think the woods are mine”).  
Barry, for we were now on first name terms, pointed out the continuing railway line, which had led through and joined up with a quiet lane that ascends through the wood to Wyke (“Reared my daughters here and when they had ponies it was safe for them to ride unattended to the Wyke lane and on out into the countryside beyond”).  
Apparently when the road widening scheme, that had created the horrendous A4169 between Wenlock and Buildwas, was proposed, the authorities had been persuaded to make an extra wide verge to allow for safe passage through to the Wyke lane, this now no longer exists as a safety barrier has been added and is placed right in the middle of the extra verge.  
Barry showed me the path between tall laurel hedges, at first I could not see it; then it became clear how he had clipped the hedges back to make a narrow footpath that led out onto his driveway then the highway, it was the flash flood that had taken away the signs and he was waiting for some more to be delivered.  
 I think Barry would be as keen as I to see the footpaths on the West side of the Dingle routed so that they could safely access the line of the old railway and as the hardway is still there, be used so that people could experience the Farley Dingle as nature intended and not as the builders of the A4169 have left it.  
   
I left Farley Dingle walking the verge just to remind myself what a nasty stretch of road the A4169, the tragedy is that it would actually be unnecessary if Regulations and common sense weren’t such uncomfortable bedfellows.  
   
If it is a choice between the traffic on the A4169 and the Rottweiler, I think I now have a soft spot for the Rottweiler.  
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

barewirewalker

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Re: If U go Down 2 T Woods 2day...Rottweiller!!!
« Reply #14 on: 12:43:37, 18/06/10 »

Don't leave it too long to tell us.  I live nearby so am really looking forward to hearing of your experiences on this "path".  O0 Farley Dingle is a mystery to all but those who 'know'.
 

I hope this is up to your expectations, but who really is the the villain in the piece (Colonel Mustard or possibly Alan Sugar).
 
There, all the suspects are woven into the text, if not by name, then possibly by deed. It only took the mere incident of nearly having my buttock ripped from thigh to look a little deeper, and lo and behold we have another corruption of the DM incident.
 
For reference;
 http://www.ramblers.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10182
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

 

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