Shropshire Hills 2023

 

Approaching Town Beck Batch.

This holiday was originally planned to be entirely different, starting with 6 nights in Shropshire before doing 3 months of long distance paths in other parts of England, finally to return to Shropshire for a final 4 nights.  However, due to a diagnosis of Degenerative Disc Disorder (for me) and my father's declining health (back in New Zealand), I made the decision to cancel the longer holiday, go to England a bit earlier, and just stay in a bunkhouse in Shropshire for 19 nights, going on day walks.

A cottage across from the bunkhouse

The decision was a good one (as my ability to walk was severely hindered by a couple of factors - my back issue and some knee pain from arthritis being a couple, and also that I returned to New Zealand 3 months before I had planned to spend some time with, and support, my father before his death).

However, as you will read, the plan of walking every day in and around the Shropshire Hills didn't exactly go to plan.  I had thought I would again walk up Caer Caradoc, across the Lawley, and head over to the Stiperstones via Bridges (although not all at once), but those treks were not realised.

Anyway, during the 18 full days I was there, I managed 6 reasonably decent walks (and a number of shorter ones - those mostly between All Stretton and Church Stretton), so I've broken my blog into 6 parts, each detailing one of the longer walks.  Click on the links below to read about these.

Part 1: Tuesday the 4th to Saturday the 8th, during which I do the one thing you shouldn't do when going on a long walking holiday - buy new boots.

Part 2: Sunday the 9th - Tuesday the 11th, where the lure of ice cream assists me in avoiding a torrential downpour.

Part 3: Wednesday the 12th, during which I finally make it to Wenlock Edge, which wasn't all I'd thought it would be

Part 4: Thursday the 13th - Saturday the 15th, where I finally manage to walk more than 30km in a walk, and the day after I'd walked another fairly long distance.

Part 5: Sunday the 16th - Tuesday the 18th, where I go out for a short walk, but wander further afield than I intended.

Part 6: Wednesday the 19th - Sunday the 23rd, where I visit a part of the Mynd that I have not seen before, but ruin myself for the rest of the holiday.