Distance - 5.2 Miles
Geocaches - 4
Walk Inspiration
Cardington at EveryTrail
This is the first time that my wanderings have been inspired by a pastry based dish. I read about Fidget Pies in a travel magazine and the mixture of pork, apple and cider made me want to investigate more. They are the house specialty of the Royal Oak in Cardington. This is prime Shropshire walking country and a quick search on
www.walkingworld.com provided a nice little 5 miler from their front door.
So the promise of a pie, pint and a decent walk was so alluring that Sonia donned her new boots and gaiter combo. Closest the Mapp's get to La Perla these days.
Familiar drive up to Church Stretton, with the last few miles along increasingly narrow lanes. Very occasionally, having a Fiat 500 is a bonus. Park up at the pub, safe in the knowledge that we will be using their facilities later.
We walk through the streets of this Domesday Book mentioned village to get the walk started.
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| Hopefully this lane takes us where we need to go |
Consider making a purchase, but despite the advertising, there is no price. Just an honesty bowl.
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| How much would you pay for 1/2 a dozen? |
The walk is not too strenuous, we tend to look at the Caradoc hills, rather than making any real climbs. The weather is superb, gorgeous blue skies and in all honesty, we could fill the blog with photos. There are stunning views in all directions.
Start is a touch muddy, as we leave the village on a green lane to get into the hills.
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| Muddy Start |
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| Little Caradoc |
The first cache of the day is found - nicely camouflaged but soon found. The OS map has this stretch of land marked as "The Wilderness". Its not that wild, just beautiful views, sheep and one would be fell runner.
We work our way down to the abandoned Cwm's Cottage. Nothing but a couple of walls, a window and cache. It's also a convergence of paths and we are joined by other walkers coming from several directions. Its easy to see what they had for Christmas. Two are in goose downed puffer mountain jackets. In the sunshine.
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| Caer Caradoc Behind the Tree |
We can see that we have our first real climb of the day to get to the top of Willstone Hill. It is not totally necessary, as we could work around it but there must be a reason. Of course, more views.
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| Church Stretton |
Having said hello to the sheep and admired the views of the Wrekin, Clee Hills. Long Mynd and of course, the pub at Cardington, we work our way down.
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| All downhill to the Pie Shop |
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| Making it to the bottom |
The penultimate cache of the day is at the Sharpstones. This is a rocky outcrop of stones in a field. Kids would love it. Find the cache and drop off a TB.
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| Sun Shining Over the Rocks |
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| The Sharpstones |
The official route has us making a small climb onto Hill End. Its 13:15 and the pub stops doing food at 14:00. An executive decision has never been so easy and we take the road back to the village.
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| Into the Village |
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| First Building - From 1574 |
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| Next Building is the Pub |
There is a cache outside the pub, but Sonia is shouting me from the car. She is desperate to de-gaiter, change footwear and get pied up. I get the cache after placing our order.
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| A First - Cache taken for a pint. Sonia steals the Wi-Fi. |
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| And the Money Shot - Fidget Pie |
I know what you are thinking - that's not a pie, balancing puff pastry on the filling makes it a lie. I am with you, blogfans. But it was damn tasty and well worth the adventure.
Next time I am in this neck of the woods - to find Miles Hunt's local.
We are never short of inspiration.
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