Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => Meets, places, trips and reviews => Topic started by: whoRya on August 29, 2014
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We spent our family holiday this year staying with relatives in the rural English county of Shropshire. As with previous occasions I took the opportunity to get out and spend some quality hill time in the Shropshire Hills.
On previous overnighters on the Long Mynd (http://www.ni-wild.co.uk/forum/meets-places-trips-and-reviews/first-solo-overnighter-the-long-mynd/msg25050/#msg25050) and Caer Caradoc (http://www.ni-wild.co.uk/forum/meets-places-trips-and-reviews/shropshire-hills-overnighter-july-2012/msg37495/#msg37495) I had been blessed with some beautiful weather. This year I had opted to make a return to the Long Mynd and the forecast was looking just as promising.
Setting off from the quaint village of Little Stretton my route would take me up a well defined pathway as it gently ascends above the ravine-like Small Batch. With the sun already dropping behind the hilly ridges ahead I took plenty of time to look behind as the last of the warm colours lit up the Stretton Hills and the clouds above.
The path above Small Batch
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3870/14993325582_c74aa54044_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oQUHku)
The hill line of Ragleth Hill, Hope Bowdler Hill and Caer Caradoc from R-L
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5569/14993325642_6a7892645a_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oQUHmw)
Leaving the main path I then contoured the open hillside of Callow before cutting straight up the last 100m or so to the summit at 411m. From here the views opened down the steep western flank into Sleekstonebank Hollow. I watched a hill farmer rounding up his sheep deep down in Callow Hollow and wondered at the sheer effort required to get down in there, and back up again!
The track contouring Callow
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3917/14993325652_5eabdf6723_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oQUHmG)
I then set off for Round Hill (463m). With the light beginning to fade and treading unfamiliar ground the solo wild camp thrills started to kick in. "Will I find a suitably flat place to pitch?" "Can I avoid the well-trodden paths?" "Where will the best views be in the morning?"
Trees on the ridge
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3835/14993325892_0197cdac3a_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oQUHqQ)
As the saying goes "it'll be all right on the night", and so it was. Before long I had found a nice pitch and was tucking into creamed rice, washed down with some Carmenere. And if you didn't know that they go together, well they do - on a mountainside they definitely do!
After spending way too long lying on the heather and watching the stars overhead (probably should have bivvied!) I turned in for the night and before long was sleeping like a baby. I awoke just as day was beginning to break. Whilst it would have been a great show to watch, I just about mustered the mental capacity to calculate that about 4 1/2 hours sleep wouldn't set me up well enough for a busy day holiday-making with the kids. So I grabbed another couple of hours sleep and a quick photo instead.
Day dawns as the moon still presides over the sky
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5551/14993326252_3648b0f14a_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oQUHx3)
The view towards the high moorland on the Long Mynd
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3875/14993326762_e58cb782da_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oQUHFQ)
The morning view from Round Hill
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5583/14807091279_a2d2d60fd6_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oysdne)
The track descending Round Hill gave fantastic views into the upper reaches of Ashes Hollow
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5554/14807091289_ea1f367b5a_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oysdnp)
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3905/14807091319_8d13275429_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oysdnV)
After descending to the col at Barrister's Plain a tough heather-bashing pull took me to the summit of Grindle (459m). This offered a 360 degree vista, from the views back towards Round Hill, to the extensive views over Church Stretton and the hills beyond.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5569/14807091589_46690c8256_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oysdsz)
Grindle summit cairn with views to Yearlet and Ashlet and beyond to Hope Bowdler Hill, Caer Caradoc, The Lawley, and a very distant The Wrekin.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3884/14807091619_020c15da19_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oysdt6)
Callow Hollow cuts between Minton Hill and Round Hill
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3891/14807091999_73a15bdab4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oysdzD)
I got plenty of interest from this guy who circled above me effortlessly for several minutes.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5571/14970847986_8750e49170_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oNVvwJ)
It was another fantastic trip in an area that is simply stunning. What the hills lack in height they make up for in intrigue, with numerous streams and rivers making their way through dramatic deep-cut valleys. The hills have some well-trodden and clearly mapped paths but the eagle-eyed traveller will pick out many unmarked interesting and more informal tracks leading off in different directions.
Having visited a few times now to what is a relatively small hill area I feel I have only scratched the surface of what there is to be explored and I can't wait to return!
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Thanks for sharing that with us. The area definitely looks like its worth a visit.
Fred
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Great write-up and fantastic photos of a wonderful area, there's a very tranquil feeling to them and looks like you enjoyed every second of it.
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A great write up and breathtaking pics, its looks like a beautiful part of the country... 8)
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Nice write up. Shropshire's a great county. The raptor in your last pic is a Red Kite (the forked tail and slimline wings distinguish it from a Buzzard).
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Nice write up mate, its definately a sweet looking place for an overnighter.
Now i wonder have many people camped there before ???
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Brilliant, looks like a lovely place. Some awesome photos there too.
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Cheers guys, it's class having somewhere nearby from which I could get out and have a wee explore. The weather was lovely, I'm due a stinker next time!
Nice write up. Shropshire's a great county. The raptor in your last pic is a Red Kite (the forked tail and slimline wings distinguish it from a Buzzard).
I had a wee google about Red Kite's and they really aren't that common in many parts. Wikipedia reckons there are about 12 pairs on the whole island of Ireland, and that is an increase of 12 from 7 years ago! It is a real privilege to be able to watch one of them in flight, tricky to track in the zoomed lens of a point and click camera though ;D
Now i wonder have many people camped there before ???
I've only seen a couple of references about wild camping there on other forums/blogs but not too much else mentioning it. I don't think most of the Brummies have realised how close it is, shush ;)
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Great write up.
Should have entered the photo comp, though. Red kite gets my vote!!
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I had a wee google about Red Kite's and they really aren't that common in many parts. Wikipedia reckons there are about 12 pairs on the whole island of Ireland, and that is an increase of 12 from 7 years ago! It is a real privilege to be able to watch one of them in flight, tricky to track in the zoomed lens of a point and click camera though ;D
No not common. There are c12 breeding pairs in NI, all in Co. Down where they were reintroduced by RSPB a few years ago. There's also a reintroduced population down in Wicklow with breeding pairs but I'm not sure how many. In recent years there have been reintroductions throughout the British Isles so they're now much more widespread than 30 years ago when they were confined to only a small area of Wales. A great bird.
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There's a nest a couple of miles from me, occassionally one flies over my house quite low, thought he was coming in the window one day!