In March 2014, we organised a weekend away based on an HF Holidays guided walking weekend in Church Stretton, Shropshire. HF Holidays provided 3 nights of hotel accommodation and two days of guided walking. We added in our own walk on Monday to make it into a long weekend.
Those of us that were able to take Friday and Monday off work travelled up on Friday morning and stopped off in the picturesque market town of Ludlow on the way to Church Stretton. The first one to arrive in Ludlow did a spot of shopping before finding a pub where the rest of us met her and had lunch.
After lunch some of us explored the castle while others explored the market and shops. The weather was a little cold but sunny with a blue sky, so the town and castle were seen at their best. There were plenty of staircases in the castle to test our fitness!
Shortly after 3pm we set off on the remaining part of the journey to Church Stretton, where we checked in to the Long Mynd Hotel. At 4pm we had tea, cake and introductions to the walk leaders and hotel staff. This was followed by a short walk around the Hotel grounds and Church Stretton to get the lie of the land. We saw some interesting wood carvings in the grounds of the hotel.
We saw some interesting wood carvings in and around the grounds of the hotel and arrived back at the hotel at dusk, with plenty of time to freshen up before our three course evening meal. We were very well fed throughout the weekend, with little chance of losing weight despite the exercise we would have during the walks.
Just before the dinner was served, we had a briefing from the walk leaders describing the three walks taking place the next day. After the briefing there were clipboards on which we selected the walk we wanted to do and what we wanted in our sandwiches the next day. HF Holidays are very organised!
Saturday 8th March - Caer Caradoc and The Lawley, 11 miles with 1900 feet of ascent
Saturday began with a huge breakfast, the collection of our packed lunches, and the selection in advance of the three courses of our evening meal. (I told you they were very organised.) Most of our group had elected to do the longest/hardest walk of the three, which involved ascending Caer Caradoc Hill and The Lawley (also a hill).
We set off on foot from the hotel into a misty Church Stretton, crossing the village into farmland and then the hills. We passed between Helmeth Hill and Three Fingers Hill (named after the three spiky rocks at its peak) before beginning the ascent of Caer Caradoc Hill, which is 459m (1500ft) above sea level compared with Church Stretton at 185m (600ft).
It was a fair old slog to the top of Caer Caradoc Hill, which was rather bare, with mossy grass and rocks, but there were some signs of the prehistoric hill fort on the summit. The views were quite impressive, with plenty of other hills to identify. After a short stop, we were soon taking the steep descent to Comley, losing all of the height we’d gained since the start of the walk!
A short stretch of road walking led us to the base of The Lawley, which we skirted round before ascending. Although this hill is shorter than Caer Caradoc at 368m (1200ft) it was much windier at the top. I mean really windy! We had to stand at an angle into the wind to prevent us falling over.
We managed to find some shelter on the leeward side of the hill to sit down for lunch. Again, there were impressive views of the surrounding countryside. Once the picnic was over, we trudged down the steep slope of the hill facing the constant pressure of the strong side-winds.
The wind eased up as we got to the bottom of the hill, from where we took a relatively flat route through the valley, passing through All Stretton and Church Stretton, back to the hotel. See our route on Bing Maps.
Just like the previous day, there was briefing before dinner from the walk leaders about the following day’s walks, with us then selecting which walk we wanted to do and what sandwiches we wanted to have.
Unlike the previous day, there was a surprise for me when we went into the dining room. The table was decorated with glitter and balloons were tied to my chair, all declaring a Happy 50th Birthday! I still had a few days to go but the Berkshire Weekend Walkers wanted to start the celebration while we were on holiday. One of our members had even baked a birthday cake! I was very touched (and a little bit embarrassed) that my walking friends had gone to such trouble.
After dinner the walk leaders provided a bit of entertainment with some word games before we retired to the bar for more drinks.
Sunday 9th March - Ludlow and the Mortimer Forest, 8 miles with 1100 feet of ascent
Sunday was gloriously sunny and noticeably warmer than Saturday. After breakfast and collecting our packed lunches, we headed down to the boot room and got ready for the walk.
It seemed that the whole of our group had chosen the medium walk for Sunday. This began and ended at Ludlow, and involved a coach trip from the hotel. After disembarking, we crossed the market square in Ludlow and took a westerly route that skirted the castle and crossed the Dinham Bridge out of Ludlow.
Now the other side of the River Teme, we headed north-west along a footpath through open fields and farmland which eventually curved round to a southerly direction and up a steep hill, over a road and up another, steeper hill to Mary Knoll House.
From here we descended into the Mary Knoll Valley on a picturesque woodland path with a stream running beside it. We stopped for lunch in a clearing near the bottom of the valley and basked in the sunshine.
After the picnic, we joined the Mortimer Trail, which took us up hill and doubling back to Mary Knoll, where we left the trail for a footpath taking us back down towards Ludlow. This brought us out quite near the Dinham Bridge where we’d started, but we didn’t cross the bridge. Instead we followed the bank of the river until we reached the Lower Broad Street Bridge, which we crossed into Ludlow.
With time to spare before the coach came to collect us, we explored a couple of the pubs. The first one wasn’t the best choice as the England versus Wales rugby match was being shown on the TVs in the pub. Ludlow being close to the border meant that there was a certain amount of tension in the pub. After one drink we moved on and found a very pleasant quiet pub in a courtyard by the market place.
Back at the hotel, the two members of our group that hadn’t been able to stay for the long weekend made their farewells before supper, but not before helping me finish the birthday cake.
Monday 10th March - Long Mynd & Carding Mill Valley, 6 miles with 1500 feet of ascent
On Monday we checked out of the hotel after another huge breakfast. We packed the cars and drove the short distance from the hotel to the National Trust car park at Carding Mill Valley. From there we set off on a walk we'd made up in the pub in Ludlow the previous day.
Heading south-east on a path that gradually climbed the south side of the valley, we turned south-west after crossing a lane and continued to the Town Brook reservoir. Crossing the bridge we carried on going south with views of Church Stretton and our hotel to the left and a large hill to the right.
Each time the path divided, we took the route that was going uphill and before long we were heading up on to Ashlet and Yearlet hills, where there was stiff breeze following us. Once we were over the brow of the hill, the wind died down and we could enjoy the sunny weather and views of the other hills in the distance and a view into Town Brook valley.
We followed some fairly well established footpaths north-west up onto Long Mynd. Our path joined the Shropshire Way, where we headed toward Pole Bank, the highest point on Long Mynd. Next to the trig point was one of those brass plaques with directions and distances to nearby landmarks marked on it. We stopped by the trig point for a snack and a sit down.
After a brief rest, we rejoined the Shropshire way, going back the way we came, but passing the point where we had joined it and carrying on heading north-east. After passing a tumulus known as Shooting Box, we took a path called the Jack Mytton Way, which would lead us down into Carding Mill Valley.
As we got further down the valley the path got more substantial, as did the stream running beside it, and at some point the path changed its name to Mott's Road. We were now in National Trust territory, with wooden marker posts well-made paths. As we got further down into the valley, there were several families enjoying the countryside. We'd had the place to ourselves when we set off from the car park, but that had been rather early.
We followed the path all the way down to the National Trust visitor's centre, where there were toilets, a shop and a restaurant. All of which would come in useful.
It was lunchtime as we got there so after buying a few gifts from the shop, we had a light lunch on the roof-top terrace of the restaurant, making the most of the sunshine before the holiday ended and we set off on our homeward journey.
For a walk that had been made up just the day before, without any form of recce, it had turned out to be very enjoyable - helped by the blue skies and sunshine.
See our route on Bing Maps.
