Tuesday 23rd August 2016
Faced with an hour’s drive back to the camp site from my day at Ironbridge, I made a spontaneous stop along the way.
See, I’d heard of Wenlock Edge. Its name even shares half of the title of one of my OS maps for Shropshire… But, I knew nothing of it and had otherwise been prepared to bypass it in favour of other natural attractions.
Along the B4371, if I’m not mistaken, there were two sign-posed National Trust car parks, both of which were free to use. I favoured the ‘second’ one, which I believe was near Presthope.
I parked up, jumped out of my car and reloaded the backpack, without knowing what to expect. I left my OS map out of sight and set off to follow the longer of three colour-coded trails – of the kind, so frequently found in British woodland areas.
I don’t remember this walk being much longer than two-miles in length and I’m not certain whether I followed it exactly or accidentally criss-crossed with one of the other signed routes.
Regardless, it was good to be walking amongst greenery, with the occasional quarry. Paths went up and down; some with steps, some without. I even had to give way to a National Trust driver towards the end, who came bouncing (literally) down one track in her Land Rover (I hope she didn’t hurt her head).
At some point of this walk, I met with (and, maybe even, followed) the Shropshire Way… It was interesting because, on every day of my five spent in Shropshire, I seemed to happen upon this long-distance trail – which, as I’ve since learnt, has more recently been divided up in to several shorter circular routes (hence the frequency).
So, Wenlock Edge may not have been quite the ‘ridgeline’ that I’d anticipated finding (without having planned or researched in advance) but, I doubt I have seen all of it. Beyond that, I also know of abbeys and more to be found in Much Wenlock itself.
On the way back, I stopped at a Harry Tuffins supermarket – one of a local chain, so it seems… I felt compelled to, simply because I liked the name! Actually, that may have been the day before because, on returning to the camp site, I needed to head out again for further food supplies – as you’ll see in my next post.
