Go on holiday to Shropshire

Another walking holiday; same company (hf holidays) as usual but different location.  I decided to go by train as that only involved one change and was probably about the same cost as petrol for the journey and the road route seemed quite complicated when I looked it up.  Perhaps I should invest in a sat nav?

The journey was as easy as it seemed and the taxi was at Church Stretton station to meet me and take me to the Long Mynd Hotel.  Looking from the train and from my room, the hills looked a lot steeper and higher than I expected!

View from my room
View from my room

Arriving on the Friday, there was a “Drinks Reception” and time to look round after the meal.

Saturday’s walks started from the house.  I went on the easier walks every day and that started last on Saturday.  There were so many people on it that it was split into “faster” and “slower” with leaders for each.  I went for “faster”.  We started by walking down “Rectory Field” and headed onto the Long Mynd by going up the Batch Valley.

Going towards Batch Valley
Going towards Batch Valley
Start of the Batch Valley
Start of the Batch Valley

We stopped for elevenses part of the way up…..

......by a stream....
……by a stream….

……and continued up (quite steep) so that we had amazing views.  With larks singing overhead it was lovely.  We had…..

......lunch near the top....
……lunch near the top…..

with views over the valley and hills which…..

.....I thought looked like giant lizards.
…..I thought looked rather like giant lizards.

We then came down the very steep……

.....Carding Valley.....
…..Carding Valley…..

……with time for a cup of tea on the roof terrace of the café at the bottom.  Then we walked back to the hotel with plenty of time before dinner.

The second day (Sunday) we took a coach just into Wales and first walked to some standing stones – not terribly impressive.  The rest of the morning was mostly through fields….

......with some good views.....
……with some good views…..

and on to have lunch at tables outside the…..

......Bog Visitor Centre......
……Bog Visitor Centre……

……which contained information about the local geology and mining areas.   From there we walked up……

...again getting good views.....
…again getting good views…..
......onto The Stiperstones.....
……onto The Stiperstones…..

…….which has quite a lot of……

.......piles of scree.
…….piles of scree.

We had between one and two miles of walking on…..

....a path of very uneven stones.....
….a ‘path’ of very uneven stones…..

……which needed quite a lot of…..

.....care and concentration.
…..care and concentration.

I think it was fortunate that only one person fell over.  Some of the stones had some…..

......nice lichen....
……nice lichen….

…..but I am glad we did the walk in dry weather.  So much concentration was needed on the path that we could only really enjoy the excellent views when we paused.  The way down was also…..

.....steep....
…..steep….

..and the path stony so we were glad to get to the pub to wait for the coach back to the hotel for dinner.

The next day, Monday, was our “day off”, when some people leave and others arrive.  I went down to Church Stretton and decided there was probably not enough to do for a whole day so got the train to Ludlow which is famous for its….

......black and white buildings.
……black and white buildings.

I walked through the town and to the castle, but decided not to go in.   Instead I walked round it.

Looking at the castle from the back - the river side.
Looking at the castle from the back – the river side.

Having got right round I ate my picnic lunch in……

.....the very pleasant gardens just outside the castle walls.
…..the very pleasant gardens just outside the castle walls.

I explored the town a little more, looking at and round….

......the church.
……the church.

I also went down through…..

.....the remaining town gate....
…..the remaining town gate….

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…and down to…

......the bridge over the river....
……the bridge over the river….

…..then back….

.....up through the gate...
…..up through the gate.

I also walked along the river before getting the train back to Church Stretton.  I even had time to write some postcards before dinner.

The next day, Tuesday, was back to organised walks and we started by coach again and the easy walk was along Wenlock Edge.

Wenlock Edge
Wenlock Edge

Most of the walk was……

......in woodland shade....
……in woodland shade….
......but gaps in the trees gave views over the countryside.
……but gaps in the trees gave views over the countryside.

The first part of the walk was along an old railway line going passed…..

.....the old quarry.....
…..the old quarry…..

….which showed…..

..... various types of rock (I think!).....
….. various types or formations of rock (I think!)…..

….and then passed…..

.....the lime kilns....
…..the lime kilns….

…..which we could see from both above…..

......and below.
……and below.

We passed……

.....orchids......
…..orchids……

…..and looked down on the site of the more recent……

......quarry.
……quarry.

We continued through….

...the woods.....
…the woods…..

…..where we had lunch and saw….

.....a different type of orchid....
…..a different type of orchid….

…..before going on to Much Wenlock, the “home of the modern Olympic Games” – or so they say.  There was time to admire the….

....clock tower....
….clock tower….

…..look round the museum, giving some history of the games, look round….

.....the town....
…..the town….

…..and still have time for cups of tea and a toasted tea cake before getting the coach back to the hotel.

In the evening a local male voice choir performed.  They had their own local words to the songs and were good (as far as I can tell!) and very amusing.

The next day was forecast to be very hot and we were told that the walk was totally exposed, without shade, so I decided that I couldn’t cope with that and opted out.  In fact it actually clouded over so I might have managed, but it was very hot.  Instead I went down to Church Stretton and looked round the town and found a place to get an excellent iced coffee, then looked round…..

.....the church.....
…..the church…..

…..which had a surprising and very attractive modern re-ordering inside.  I then took the main path into Rectory Wood……

......round the edge of....
……following the stream….
.....then into Rectory Wood....
…..and woodland path….
......until I came to this pool.
……until I came to this pool.

I then walked upwards and…..

......and came out at the top of the wood....
……and came out at the top of the wood….

…..where I found a bench and had my lunch….

.....looking over Rectory Field and towards the hotel.
…..looking over Rectory Field and towards the hotel.

I then returned to the hotel and spent the afternoon reading in the lounge.

There was the “HF quiz” in the evening and I was asked to join a team.  I was, as usual, hopeless on the music, film and TV parts and moderate on the rest.  As the rest of the team were not much better we came joint last in that hotel!

The final day initially followed a trail starting in the hotel grounds.  We passed various….

......carvings of animals....
……carvings of animals….

….and then went down into the town and through the back streets and headed for Caer Caradoc.  The easy walk didn’t go to the top but it was initially……

.....up the slopes of the hill....
…..up the slopes of the hill….
....and was quite steep.
….and was quite steep.

We followed round and along the slopes on the far side from the town, still…..

....going upwards....
….going upwards….

…..and then continued on….

.....round the hill....
…..round the hill….

and still further, ‘admiring’ the sheep…..

.....until we started to go down again.
…..until we started to go down again.

We stopped for lunch when we were part way down and it rained a bit.

Moving on after lunch.
Moving on after lunch.

The final part was across a railway line – a train came just after we had crossed over – and then a very boring walk from All Stretton along the road.  There was time for a pot of tea and a toasted tea cake in the café I had been in the previous day.  It started to rain hard while I was there, so we got very wet on the way back to the hotel.

In the evening, as well as dinner, we looked at the 6 word statements about the holiday and made contributions to the “Pathways Fund” by the ones we liked most and then had an interesting talk on bees and bee-keeping.

The next day was return home by train, which was fine, except for the Hen Party that were in the same carriage as me for part of the way.

So was it a good holiday?  Some of the walks and the scenery were very good, but I think the hotel is probably too large and it was difficult to get to know people well.  The weather was dry and sunny until the last day, but maybe a bit hot and humid a couple of days, so overall it was only a satisfactory holiday!

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