Long Mynd and beyond – in which the hip is miraculously 90% better
Another hearty B&B breakfast, this time with an extensive menu choice, a good fruit salad AND drinkable coffee!
We hiked from the B&B up a lane, then joined a trail after a very busy campsite – long weekend, lots of folk out. The trail was gentle to start with:
but quickly went steeply uphill, and we got into some energetic winds almost immediately once we cleared the valley. Not as strong as yesterday’s, but enough to need to mind the balance.
Beautiful scenery though, very bucolic.
We met a few people coming down, but it was pretty quiet overall on this part.
some interesting growth patterns on the hill across
It was about here, near the ridge top, I remembered I’d not put on Strava… sigh.
We saw gliders in the distance, and apparently there is a permanent installation on top of the hill. I also learned slightly later that there is a road up the hill, and a parking area where hikers can start from. There were a fair number of people on this top part of the ridge, and some of them undoubtedly had parked there.
The road at the top – in the back is a copse of trees, and a shelter where we had some coffee and yesterday’s leftover flapjacks. These are some of the wild horses that roam around the hills.
There was a spectacular 360 degree view from the top.
Despite the ominous clouds, we had only a short spattering of rain and otherwise were left alone. The wind was again fairly impressive, but the up side to that is – no insects!
Although there were a lot of people walking up top, we were able to strike off on a different path than most were taking and were soon on our own again, winding around the hill and then heading down into the next valley. Some fairly isolated farms…
I was impressed by how well Hilary and John navigated the myriad options of paths.
The sheep needed shearing but tradition has it done June 1st; meantime it’s been a warm spring so the sheep have taken it upon themselves to lose some of their fur, rubbing on rocks and fences and strands are also blown by the wind up to the fence lines. There are some pretty mangy looking sheep right now!
the area is National Trust land, and this boardwalk protects the wetter land below. We saw a number of mountain bikers on this section, and that looked like a lot of fun – great terrain to ride on.
We wound our way down, losing much more elevation than I thought we’d gained – again I was impressed by the trail knowledge of Hilary and John.
When we descended into this valley, there was a brook along the track and a cacaphony of bird songs which was lovely to hear – unfortunately this site won’t accept videos/soundtracks. There are also a lot of skylarks on the ridges who are lovely singers tool.
one of the mangy sheep with half the fleece gone.
Coincidentally we ended up at the Yew Tree Inn, where I stayed the first night and where we stopped for a beer yesterday. It was an opportune stopping point again today… very civilized walking, being able to include a pub stop along the way!
The trip back to the car was about 3 miles from here, and we had some more steep ups and downs along some interesting paths, finally coming back down to the campsite near the beginning to complete the loop. Final tally 17.8 km, 560 m elevation gain.
Back to the B&B for tea and bath, and to note that my hip was 90% better today and barely bothered me at all either up or down. Maybe what it needed was a good stretch out yesterday?
Curry restaurant for dinner, then pack for the move tomorrow onto the next stop, Derbyshire. I can certainly appreciate why Hilary and John have chosen to live here – gorgeous walking, multiple trails and a very pretty series of villages (All Stretton, Little Stretton and Church Stretton) with lots of amenities.