Walking comes into the modern age. No pubs or cafes on route today, but post walk refreshment can be found in a (for me) first of a kind. At the trail head - a shed - with automatic hot and cold drink and snacks running the gamut from twix to ice cream.
Ginger beers and brownies, post walk
But I am getting ahead of myself. First the walk - a lung-bursting ascent of Caer Caradoc, via three fingers rock. Descent over Little Caradoc and stop before climbing the Lawley. The return on fern infested paths along the flanks of the Caradocs.
We could watch the rain-storms sweeping in and were rewarded with a rainbow and surprisingly, by not getting a drenching ourselves.
A delight of a walk, where the photos only just begin to do it justice.
Views over Church Stretton
Climbing
Summiting
Mrs M at Three Fingers
Minnie and her daughter, Curly - the flatcoat retreivers
The Queen PJ Harvey's second single. I've been listening to it for 34 years. It's taken a trip to deepest Shropshire to find my first one. A tiny church in the tiny hamlet of Holdgate, deep in the Corvedale Valley, in the shadow of the Clee Hills.
On the south wall, above the chancel door
It's rather weathered and a little tricky to decipher. But once you have had it explained to you, it's impossible not to spot. From the Sheela-Na-Gig project;
The figure is described by some authors as “pugilistic” which is understandable given the weathering on the figure. In fact what at first seem to be the figure's hands are in fact its knees. The arms are behind the knees with the hand holding the vagina open.
No one can quite agree what they are for - a pre-Christian fertility symbol? A warning against lust? Who knows, but you wouldn't necessarily expect them on a church wall. If we wanted to see more of this ilk, we could have headed onwards to the next Hamlet. Tugford also has one.
This walk climbs out the Corvedale valley on the Shropshire Way. If you don't like sheep and/or stiles then maybe give this one a miss. It's not a bad walk, it's just that Mrs M is a tough woman to please. Already disinterested in rude symbols, she then moans that this route "is a bit samey and can we do something more exciting tomorrow?"
Corvedale Valley Floor Views
The Clee Hills in the far distance from Wenlock Edge
Not even spectacular Elizabethan architecture can excite her. On the crest of Wenlock Edge, we come across Wilderhope Manor House.
From the 1580s - restored by the Cadbury Family in the 1930s
If you like it, you can stay there - either in a single room or by hiring out the entire gaff. It is a youth hostel.
On the drop down to the valley floor, we find our second Elizabethan home - Shipton Hall. Many parallels with Wilderhope, although this is in private ownership.
This walk over Long Mynd is my most walked "boots on" ramble. It's the one I loved from the first time walked. It's the one where Country Walking Magazine ran a feature on Geocaching. It's the one I used for training when my son had an interest in walking Snowdon. Cost me children's boots, rucksack, socks and a penknife. He didn't like rambling.
We are staying in the wilds of Shropshire on our latest dog sit. A first, as it is 3 dogs. Never have more dogs than you have hands. Or children. It looks close to Church Stretton on the map but with the roads not taking the most direct route, it's a 40 mile round trip.
I found a new route on Komoot. We park in our (not so) secret free car park in Cunnery Road but instead of heading to Little Stretton and Round Hill, we head up Townbrook Valley. This will shave a couple of miles off and test out our dog handling skills.
All the views from the highest point, Pole Bank, and the slightly more dramatic hands-on-rock descent of Light Hollow Spout are present.
The top of Townbrook Valley
Old Boy Punch left snoozing - the two flat coats are up for it
The real wild ponies are in the far distance
Light Hollow Spout
Heading down Carding Mill Valley - for coffee and cake at the NT Cafe
Investigation required for the Part 3 of Travels with Pevsner. Jonathan Meades does a fine job of describing an impressive looking home, but fails to tell the viewer where it is. Thank the lord for Google Image Search, which informs me it is Wyke Manor, Wick.
Pevsner states;
This eminently picturesque large house just NW of the church is in fact entirely an evocation. It has all the motifs of genuine Worcestershire timber-framing and groups them suggestively, It was done in 1923 round a Georgian core.
1923 Wyke Manor, Wick
There's more to the story than Pevsner lets on. The house is privately owned by the Hudsons. During WWI, Aubrey Hudson wanted to marry a young local girl. His parents didn't approve and asked his CO to transfer him away. So they sent him to the front. He lasted two weeks.
The house contains and is a shrine to him.
My chosen walk appeared in a recent Country Walking Magazine. A figure of 8 loop with the focus point at the Pershore Bridges Picnic area.
20th Century meets 15th Century
The first loop to the hamlet of Pensham. All agricultural fields in the shadow of Bredon Hill.
First half walking
Bredon Hill
Then into Wick, where there is more to discover than just the manor house. A signed, and notice-boarded History Trail tells you all about Viking raids up the Avon and how to build cruck houses.
Alas, the FYI Geocaches are lost
Walk Details
Distance - 5 miles
Geocaches - 2
Walk Inspiration - Travels with Pevsner and Country Walking Magazine, June 2026, Walk 9
