From Cwms to Caer Caradoc
Distance: 8.5 miles,
Minnimum Time: 4hrs,
Difficulty: Moderate,
Description:
Squeezed between the heathery bulk of the Long Mynd and the enticing Stretton Hills lies Church Stretton. This small market town makes an ideal base for a few days of quality walking. If youâve done Walk 37, youâll be familiar with the Long Mynd and you may have looked across the Stretton Gap at Caer Caradoc and its neighbours and thought youâd like to know them better. Until recently, a glance at an OS map would have suggested that there was limited access to these hills, but in fact there has been permissive access for many years and this is now guaranteed by law.
Geological Fault. The Strettons may well be the shapeliest hills in the county. Or, at least, three of them are: Ragleth Hill, Caer Caradoc and The Lawley, which run in a north-south alignment to the east of Church Stretton. Basically, they are hogâs-backs, very much like The Wrekin. But, also like The Wrekin, catch them from the right angle (end-on is best, or check out Caer Caradoc from The Cwms) and they look almost conical, with an alluring mini-mountain shape that screams âClimb meâ. If you do climb one of them, for instance Caer Caradoc, and look north, you will see The Wrekin, lying on exactly the same alignment, and taking much the same form as Caer Caradoc and The Lawley. The Strettons are also of volcanic origin, like The Wrekin; long, narrow ridges of resistant Precambrian rock, which was thrust up from the earthâs core by movements along the Church Stretton fault. This break in the earthâs crust has been traced from Staffordshire to South Wales, but it is here in Shropshire that its effects are most noticeable, where the hard Precambrian rocks are brought up against much softer rocks, such as limestones. If you look at the OS map you will notice a line of springs marked along the western slopes of Caer Caradoc. This marks the line of the fault. If you walked along the footpath that runs below the springs, you would see some small quarries where earlier generations of farmers dug out the soft limestone to make agricultural lime to sweeten the acidic soils that prevail in the area.
While you're there: Take the kids to Acton Scott Historic Working Farm, south of Church Stretton, which recreates daily life on an upland farm in the late 19th century. There are rare breeds too, such as Longhorn cattle, Tamworth pigs and Shropshire sheep.
What to look out for: How do we know that Cwms Road was once a drove road? Apart from the documentary evidence, there are various other clues. Here, itâs trees: if you look down from Caer Caradoc into Cwms you will see Cwms Cottage, readily identifiable because it stands next to a clump of Scots pines. It was customary for people offering drovers an overnight stop or refreshments to indicate this by planting two or three Scots pines, and this may well explain the presence of these trees here. They donât occur naturally in the Stretton Hills.
Where to eat and drink: Try Flinders in Church Stretton, a coffee and tea shop and continental-style cafÃ©. Itâs welcoming and the jacket potatoes with garlic mushrooms are wicked. Well-behaved dogs accepted. The Buckâs Head Hotel is recommended in the Ramblersâ Yearbook. Children are welcome and so are dogs, but not in the bar when food is being served - thereâs a beer garden outside.
Directions:
Walk along Easthope Road to Sandford Avenue and turn right past the train station. Cross the A49, proceed along Sandford Avenue, then turn right on Watling Street South. Turn left by a post-box, fork right and shortly left on Ragleth Road.
Turn right into a Woodland Trust reserve, Goughâs Coppice. Keep left at a fork, climbing by the edge of the wood, and left again at the next junction. Leave the wood at a stile and turn right on a footpath. After a level section, the path climbs steeply to a stile. Turn right for a few paces, then fork left to follow a higher path, which goes by the left-hand fence through woodland.
When the path emerges on to the open hillside, keep straight on as far as a stile, but donât cross it. Turn your back on it and follow a trodden path up Ragleth Hill, then walk along the spine of the hill.
A pole marks the southern summit. Descend the steep well-worn path past rocks then follow a fence down to a stile. Drop left to another stile and climb to the top left corner of the next field. Go straight on to the far left corner of another field and join a lane.
Turn left and follow the lane, with its wide flowery verge, for about a mile (1.6km), passing the turn for Chelmick and Soudley. Just past a wooden house (Clemcroft) turn left on a bridleway signed to Church Stretton. Follow this to a gate and down through woodland.
Approaching a second gate, donât go through, but turn right to contour round Hazler Hill. Turn right at a lane, walk to a junction and cross to a bridleway opposite, which passes Gaerstones Farm. After Caer Caradoc comes into view, look for a bridleway branching left to a gate/stile about 40yds (37m) away. The bridleway descends past Helmeth Hill to meet another bridleway at the point where this is crossed by a brook.
Turn right along the track, which follows a brook through Cwms, a narrow valley penetrating the hills. The track is known as Cwms Road and is part of a former droversâ route from mid-Wales to Shrewsbury.
After about 650yds (594m), a stile on the left, lets you join the grassy slopes of Caer Caradoc. Climb the obvious steep path which rises ahead of you, passing to the left of a rock outcrop, though the summit is not visible from this point. Once you have passed the outcrop, go through a break in the ramparts of the Iron Age fort that encircles the summit. After a short climb you reach the summit itself, and the full magnificence of the view can be appreciated. Wenlock Edge and the Clee Hills dominate the view to the east, with The Wrekin to the north and the Malverns a dark smudge in the south. The Long Mynd broods just across the Stretton Gap, backed by Stiperstones and the Welsh hills.
From the summit, descend through the northern ramparts of the hill-fort to a saddle before Little Caradoc, Point B. Turn left before a pool to meet a path that contours round the lower slopes. Keep left at a fork, climb slightly, and continue along to a stile. Descend very steeply from this point to rejoin the main route
Turn right, soon emerging from woodland into pasture. Keep on in much the same direction, a fence on your left. The path becomes a sunken track, which can be very muddy. Reaching a lane, turn left. Turn right on Helmeth Road, right again at Sandford Avenue, and retrace your outward route back to the car park.
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