It’s for real!

30 August 2012

OK, now it’s the real thing. We’ve told everyone we’re doing it, linked up with Shropshire Wildlife Trust to raise money to mark their 50th anniversary, and completed our initial recce of the 50 miles; there’s no turning back now.

All the training walks from now on will be on full sections of the walk. First off is the section from Caradoc to High Park, one that we can easily do straight from home and should take us around 4 hours.

Set of from home at 7.16pm and reached the official starting point at Old Cardington Lane at 7.26 where we set the pedometer going. Caradoc is the first objective and we toyed with the idea of taking a track up past Three Fingers Rock, but decided to stay on the main track through the woods and then left through the gate on the first steep section up to the summit. It was back in June when we last did this section and though it was a bit easier this time it was still a tough climb. A full moon shone in the eastern sky and we did stop for one photograph at the first rock outcrop.

Full moon from Caradoc.

The summit was reached at 8.07, 2.3km, where the remains of the Jubilee Beacon could still be seen. We then hacked over the ridge and down the other side, aided by new boots (expertly fitted by The Outdoor Depot) which reminded me what it felt like having a sole which actually gripped. We actually jogged a bit downhill; the grazing sheep seemed unimpressed and carried on munching. The foot of the hill was reached at 8.27, 3.7km and then a brief stop to retighten Sue’s new boots.

As we emerged from the woods it was getting dark but we thought we could continue without torches until Lawley. The second hill on the Hike is a good deal easier than the first although the summit is further than you think with a constant climb seeming particularly endless in the half-light. Eventually we made the summit post with bird on top at 9.04pm, 7.75km. The moon was still shining brightly but after a very quick coffee we decided it might be safer to don headtorches for the descent which actually went very quickly. Our first encounter with another walker was at the foot of Lawley with a local walking her dog. She guessed we were training for the Long Mynd Hike, probably after being blinded by our head torches, and very kindly suggested we knock on her door if we there were any emergencies during the event itself.

After another coffee and brioche to fortify ourselves, we set off for Comley Farm, expecting to find the bullocks but the first field was empty, although we spotted a number of bright light points in the second one which turned out to be the bullocks’ eyes shining back at us. We had walked this section just a week ago which was fortunate as we could remember the rough orientation of the paths and where the exits were. At least we thought we could, until we got to the section after the lane where two very nosy horses put us off our stride and we took a while to find the stile in the far corner of the field. The horses were really very friendly and not put off too much by our bright lights.

Arrived at the A49 crossing at 10.10, 9.0km and then headed off on the paths towards Gogbatch. More horses encountered here although they didn’t get quite as close. We found most of the route fairly easily but actually took a different path without knowing it that ended up alongside the stream in Gogbatch that is in fact better than the scramble up through the gorse bushes we used last time. 

After the very steep final climb out of the lane in Gogbatch we got to the junction at 10.45, 10.7km. More climbing on the lane up to High Park where we reached the crossroads at 11.04, 11.7km. No need for lights here as the moon was so strong. We need to check the map reference again but think the checkpoint is at this crossroads, although it could be a bit further uphill where the path forks. Anyway our time wasn’t too bad; just over three and a half hours for the 7 mile section, and in the dark too. 

We decided to bail out here and get back before Francis alerted the police and mountain rescue, and took the lane down past Jinlye and then the footpath fork to the right past the farms and into All Stretton. Looking north before Jinlye you could see the glow of Shrewsbury’s lights which is far more noticeable at night, and there was also a glow to the east which was presumably the various parts of Telford. Over on the other side of the Long Mynd which will be the actual night walking section, we may find more of a sense of wilderness.

Home at 11.55 after walking our planned 10 miles. Next up is a longer night walk with a 24 mile circuit starting at Stiperstones.

Sponsor us and support the Shropshire Wildlife Trust

As the Hike is 50 miles it seems very appropriate to support the Shropshire Wildilfe Trust which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The Trust has a number of reserves along the route - Earl's Hill, Brook Vessons, The Hollies and Nipstone and does great work in protecting wild places around the county.

We have now set up a fundraising page with Shropshire Wildlife Trust, so if you would like to sponsor our mad quest, please click this link and visit their page where you can make a secure online donation.

We hope you will give generously!

50 miles - in the bag!

22 August

Final missing section to complete in our third consecutive night of walking. This had to be a linear walk from Bridges to Little Stretton with the plan to leave one car there and return later to pick it up. Set off at 17.15 and made good progress up to Coates 1.0km, 17.32, through three gates and on to Medlicott (2.1km, 17.51) where we headed straight up towards Medlicott Cottage. Spotted our first glider of the evening here.

Between Coates and Medlicott.

Reached Medlicott Cottage and the boundary to the National Trust land at 2.7km, 18.06. Full of enthusiasm we set off with confidence - up the wrong track. Realised after a while that we were following the NT boundary when we should have been going at 45 degrees from the entrance gate towards Pole Cottage.

The wrong path!

The right path - looking back to Medlicott Cottage

After retracing our steps, we set off again from Medlicott Cottage at 3.2km, 18.21. The path was difficult to see but we could make out a faint track in roughly the right direction which eventually became a path through the blooming heather. (Don’t worry I’m not about to break into song …) JP had warned us that this could be a wet walk through the heather, not on this occasion but he is right if it had been raining heavily before. Further up the hill the path kept disappearing and when we studied the OS map carefully we realised there should be some ponds nearby.

Among the blooming heather...

On the horizon we spotted some rushes/sedges which we thought could indicate ponds, and we were right. The path skirted to the left of the ponds and then headed for a clump of trees which marked the site of the former Pole Cottage. This is now just an enclosure where the cottage once stood and is used as a group camp site, 4.3km, 18.44. An easy walk along The Portway followed and the track to Minton was nicely signposted, although we couldn’t identify all the paths shown on the OS map. After a brief coffee break we set off at 19.03, 5.5km. 

The ponds near Pole Cottage.

Good track over Minton Hill and on past the Packet Stone into a charming valley resplendent in purple heather. Reached the NT sign at the foot of the hill at 8.1km, 19.51, and into hamlet of Minton where there is a fine example of a cruck-framed house being renovated.

The route to Minton.

Just past the Packet Stone.

The next section is a slog along the lane to Little Stretton which took longer than anticipated and we even tried a bit of jogging along here. Arrived at the Green Dragon at 9.7km, 20.16 then back home along the road before setting out to collect the car, and of course have a pint in The Bridges - well we did make use of their car park so it’s only fair. 

Hurrah, that’s the 50 miles completed; just have to do it in 24 hours now. I feel some more night walking coming our way.

The last hill on the Hike

21 August 2012

Another short evening walk to fill in the missing sections. Set off at 7.06pm to Little Stretton to pick up the final part of the Hike over Ragleth. Arrived at Ragleth Inn at 7.45 then a few minutes later turned down Crown Lane opposite the Green Dragon pub at 2.7km. Turned right onto the A49 then left up a lane to a house which becomes a footpath past Knoll Cottage. Lots of turkeys milling around and a very peaceful grave of a young man who died in 2002.

Looking across to the Long Mynd.

Ragleth Hill information sign

The path climbs up the hill and we reached the Ragleth Hill sign at 8.11pm, 3.6km. Then a steeper climb up to the summit via some helpfully-provided footholds. England flag flying at summit reached at 8.25pm, 4.1km. Very breezy on top and after a couple of quick photos headed along ridge and found the path that veers left towards the town.

Path from summit along the ridge.

The darkness in the woods meant we had to get the head torches out and it was a very slippery descent, fortunately on the Hike it will be light when we reach here. Tawny owl heard in the woods but he went quiet when the bright lights went on.

At the summit of Ragleth.

Reached the foot of the hill and alleyway to Poplar Drive at 9.03pm, 5.8km, then home at 9.25, 7.5km. Just the Bridges to Minton stretch to complete now.

Evening ramble

20 August 2012

Short evening walk to test out new head torch and sort out route from The Lawley. Set off at 7.05pm. First wildlife was slow worm on path near Cwm Dale. Through All Stretton then lane off to right and across railway and A49.

Never seen any of these properties before, good-looking barn conversions at Botvyle Farm.

Reached the point where the path down from Caradoc meets the lane just after Caradoc Cottages at white picket fence at 8.03pm, 3.65km. Then down the lane past Comley Farm where the path goes up to The Lawley. Met Mr Farmer at 3.9km, nice chap who said no problem with cows in field although one of the mothers seemed a bit too interested in me and then they all stampeded across to the other side. 

Spotted a fox running in next field, much more wildlife around early and late in the day. Arrived at the house with the tin man at 8.29pm, 4.9km. Last time we had turned right here but the correct way is to go left and then take first footpath on right just before Heath House. Horses in field very interested in us and escorted us through two fields to the stile. More farmers out and about here moving sheep, then just couple more fairly straight paths to A49 reached at 8.40pm, 5.4km.

After crossing onto the All Stretton lane, took footpath immediately to right and first use of torch to see the map. Tawny owl heard and shadowy form seen in next field which was also full of horses that were keen to come and see us. The path then crosses the lane and continues past a cottage and through bracken all the way up to lane at Gogbatch. Reached lane at 9.03pm, 6.3km and decided to head for home. Properly dark now so good chance to test torch which was pretty impressive. Reached home at 9.45pm.

OS website calculated the walk at 7.8km to Gogbatch, 10.9km to home which meant we had made better pace than we had thought. Still going to be tough going to make the Hike in 24 hours though …

The missing bits behind Stiperstones

Heather in bloom on Stiperstones.

19 August 2012

An early start saw us at Stiperstones car park at 7.55am. The road up from Bridges was busy with birds including a flock of wheatears, lots of skylarks, pied wagtails and meadow pipits.

This marks the route to Habberley!

The path over Stiperstones didn’t feel quite so tough having suffered many hours on the rocky paths at Scafell Pike but it is still slow-going. Early morning sunshine was very warm but as we went over the top it began to cloud over. We reached the Shropshire Wildlife Trust reserve at 9.14am, 3.9km. We found the right path direct to Upper Vessons Farm this time and had coffee break at the cyclist’s entrance to Eastridge Woods at 9.45am, 5.4km.

Arriving in Habberley at 10.09, 6.6km, we decided to include Earl’s Hill, having originally planned to turn left to Bank House.

Heather on Stiperstones.

We have done Earl’s Hill before, but as we had gone a bit off-piste, decided to do it again and get it right this time. The final climb up to the summit is surprisingly tough and sure it will be tougher after having done 20 miles on the Hike. Reached the summit at 10.47am, 8.6km. We had been hoping for an hour to get to and from here from Habberley, but it was looking more like an hour and a quarter.

Snailbeach mine.

Arrived back in Habberley at 11.25am, having seen our first real rain on training walks. We lost a few minutes talking to a couple whose dog showed rather more intelligence that the rest of us, as he sheltered under a tree while we chatted out in the rain.

As we headed towards Bank House Farm we had to check the map for the first time on the walk. (Now missed our waterproof map cover which we had lost somewhere by the car at Seathwaite.) The crossroads with the Shropshire Way was clear just before we reached the farm and we turned left towards Eastridge woods at 11.44am, 11.5km. Once in the woods there was a very clear forest track which leads around the edge of the woods all the way to Snailbeach. The Shropshire Way turns left which we could take but it looks like involving much more climbing. 

The Eastridge cycle routes cross the path and we braved one of these to find a sheltered spot for lunch at 12.10pm, 12.75km. The path was so easy through the woods that we arrived at Snailbeach surprisingly quickly  at 12.57, 14.2km and then set off on the road section towards Tankerville and Pennerley. 

Stiperstones Inn - can't believe it's only half way on Hike!

Shop at Stiperstones Inn.

Crows Nest buildings.

 The settlements on this side of Stiperstones are very interesting with the mining heritage very evident everywhere. Passing through Snailbeach and Crow’s Nest we got to Tankerville Pottery at 14.00, 17.4km, where a neatly-position bench gave us a final coffee stop. The pottery shop was open, despite the sign and being unstaffed and it is certainly worth a look.

Post in the wall at the Old Cross Guns.

The former Cross Guns inn at Crows Nest.

Tankerville Pottery.

Old mine at Tankerville

For the benefit of a commenter who thought there were a bit too many pints of
beer on our blog, this shows we drink copious amounts of coffee too

Continuing uphill we arrived at Pennerley with its viewpoint back across the side of Stiperstones. The path left towards Shelve, marked by a Nant Isa B&B sign at 17.7km,  is a good one, being used by vehicles for access to a number of houses along the lane. Arrived as planned on the Shelve road close to the The Firs at 14.25, 18.3km. Then just a short hike back to the car park, reached at 15.10, 20.8km.

Only one more section to complete the hike route - Bridges - Ragleth, and sort out the best path down from The Lawley, and then we’ll be ready to do some serious endurance training!

View from Pennerley.

Well, you can't go past The Bridges without a swift pint can you?

Diversion to Scafell Pike

August 2012

A week in the Lake District gave us the chance to do some higher-altitude training. As novices to the area we decided to start at the top - by climbing England’s highest peak Scafell Pike.

A glorious sunny morning beckoned as we set off from Seathwaite at 7.56am. Our plan was to ascend the Corridor route and back down Grains Gill. It didn’t quite go to plan however! Grey wagtail seen in the stream on the way to Stockley Bridge. Have to say I expected a grander bridge as it was marked on the map but it was fairly obvious when we reached it at 1.3km, 8.25am. Here the path splits with the left hand fork going up Grains Gill and the right hand heading towards Styhead which was our route.

From Stockley Bridge.

The diminutive Stockley Bridge.

We now started going up a bit more steeply and followed the stream until we got our first view of the mountains ahead. Didn’t know which was which and it transpired that it would be a few hours till we caught a glimpse of Scafell Pike. 

Reached Styhead tarn at 9.12am, 3.5km. Some wild campers were going for a swim; imagine the water temperature was pretty cool. Just a short distance ahead was the Stretcher Box, apparently famous enough to merit capital letters. Took a couple of photos of the box  and agreed our main objective was to avoid needing it being brought into use.

Styhead Tarn.

The famous Styhead Stretcher Box.

And this is where it went a bit haywire. According to our guide book, purchased the day before in Keswick, the Corridor route heads runs up to the coll between Great End and Ling Mell. Now that’s fine if you know what you are looking at; the hills unfortunately don’t have nameplates on so we were trying in vain to identify the peaks from the OS map. Easy in Shropshire where the bumps are pretty obvious, but here there are so many peaks it is easy to get confused.

















We started off on what we thought was the right path and crossed a gill as suggested but the path seemed to peter out and we ended up at a very unsafe looking crossing point on the next gill. Having concluded that the Corridor route would be a much clearer path we decided to backtrack towards Styhead and try again. (Learnt later on that even the best-known paths are not always that clear to find on the ground.)

Somewhere here is the Corridor route.

Anyone seen the Corridor route?

Having wasted around an hour and a half and gone 5.7km, we then took the Esk Hause path as we resolved to only take proper-looking paths, and thought we would surely find the turn onto the Corridor route soon.






















After a coffee and sandwich break we ended up at Sprinkling Tarn and finally worked out where we were; not where we intended to be but there was a route to the summit from here as well. Intriguingly Sue received a text message from T-Mobile saying welcome to the Isle of Man; we knew we had got lost but were not quite that far off track!

Low cloud over Sprinkling Tarn.

We saw other walkers for the first time which was reassuring at least and then quite a crowd of people heading up towards Broad Crag at 8km, 11.45am.










The route went past the cross-shaped windbreak stone walls which was noted in our guide book and up between Broad Crag and Ill Crag. Here we met our first boulder field. An interesting experience and the route was identified by kind souls who had built a series of cairns to show the right way.

Windbreak above Esk Hause.

The final ascent up to Scafell Pike was pretty busy with the sound of boots slipping on the loose scree. After a quick bite to build energy for the final climb we headed upwards for our first scramble. A descending walker assured us we were only 20 minutes from the top.

Boulder field. 

First glimpse of the summit/ 

Final ascent to Scafell.

Arrived at the summit at 1.25pm, having gone 10.6km but it felt like a lot more. It was a bit like Picadilly Circus on top but it didn’t spoil it in any way. It is reassuring that there are lots of people who care enough about our wild places to get out and make the effort to climb them. When we were climbing up we had intended to go back the same way, having been warned in the guide books that it can be difficult to see clear paths off the summit. That might be a problem if you were here on your own but with dozens arriving and departing every minute, it was fairly clear and we also found a knowledgeable local who told us how to reach the Corridor route. 

Busy at the summit.

Sue at the trig point.

Success: I've climbed Scafell Pike!

Don't expect much of a view from the top.

And so have I!

The first part of the decent was straightforward and very busy. A few very ill-equipped walkers passed us on their way up and we had our doubts whether they would make it given the amount of huffing and puffing on the lower slopes. We eventually found the route rightwards towards the Corridor route. It wasn’t terribly clear but we had been warned not to veer to the left as that would mean ending up in Wasdale, miles from the car!

As soon as we took the Corridor route we were virtually on our own. It’s obviously a feature of this mountain that there are so many possible routes that crowds converge at the top, but it thins out considerably lower down. Reached Piers Gill at 2.36pm, 12.7km. shortly afterwards we arrived at a vertical wall, with an arrow marked ‘Corridor’ heading up. We thought it must be a joke but another walker arrived and assured us that this was the way and referred us to Wainwright’s advice to avoid the tempting path around the side as that went in completely the wrong direction. This was a full hands and feet job, we had anticipated scrambling but this was much closer to climbing albeit only for a short way, with a ravine neatly placed below.

Styhead Tarn with Derwent Water in the distance.

Wast Water seen from descent of Scafell Pike.

As we neared Styhead, we realised that we had only missed the Corridor route earlier on by a short way. Our expectations of a wide, well-trodden path were clearly wide of the mark as well although going down we at least had the tarn to head for. Arrived back at the Stretcher Box at 4pm, 15.6km.

Great Gable: one for our next visit.

The return to Seathwaite was at least heading down but still quite gruelling and we realised that we hadn’t had a level path without rocks and uneven ground all the way. We arrived back at the farm at 5.26pm and then to the car a few minutes later having completed 19.6km. Tired but very satisfied!