Shropshire Hills 2014 Day 4

Day 4 Sunday 27^th July 2014

Due to some sunburn, and the coke I drank with dinner last night, my sleep was rather restless.  I headed up the Carding Mill Valley and, at the junction to the Light Spout waterfall path, I stashed a cider in the stream under a few rocks for later consumption.  I followed the same route that I had taken on the 20^th of August last year dropping down into Ratlinghope

And then walking over to Bridges, but this time I made the correct turn and carried on directly up to the Stiperstones.   

According to one of my walking guidebooks, there was a trail to Perkins Beach (not an actual beach), but I searched and could not find it.  (While typing this up for my blog in 2020, and referring to an online OS map, I see Perkins Beach is actually very close to where I was and, if I am ever back at the Stiperstones, I may well walk there to see what it is).   

Shepherds Rock

Looking down toward Bridges

After spending a little time at the Stiperstones I headed back down to the Bridges pub for a cider.  Inflation is crazy as this year it cost me £3.50, a whopping 60p more than last year!

I sat outside near a brook to drink it, then ordered another pint (a different variety) which was only £3.  Okay, maybe I overreacted about the price hike.  I also ordered a ploughman’s lunch: a large board with sourdough, 2 cheeses, grapes, apples, ham, pickled onions, tomatoes and greens.  Yum!!

Eventually I clambered back over the Mynd and down to claim my stashed can of cider, only to discover it was missing.  In fact, it wasn’t missing, just had been found, drank, crushed, and discarded a couple of metres away.  At least they could have cleaned up their litter for the privilege of stealing my drink.

Due to the late lunch at the Bridges pub, I did not have dinner that night.  So, if you thought it was going to be fish ‘n’ chips again, you were wrong (although I would have guessed the same thing).

Day 5