CYW Day Out [PM] - Church Stretton - A Hill, A Cave, A Waterfall and a Moor!

Start time: 13:30 (Estimated finish time: 17:20)
Moderate 7 miles / 11.3 kilometers
Led by: Chris C (07933 942002)

Join the Chiltern Young Walkers for a trip further afield to the beautiful Shropshire Hills!

Whilst a little bit outside of our normal area, the Shropshire Hills offers amazing scenery and great walks. We’ve got 2 separate walks planned for the day to make the most of our excursion and take in as much of it as we can!

Find our morning walk to the top of Caer Caradoc: https://www.meetup.com/chilternyoungwalkers/events/302366773/

We’ll be basing ourselves in the market town of Church Stretton - filled with lovely independent shops and wonderful pubs.

After lunch, our second walk of the day heads into “Carding Mill Valley” - exploring a part of the over 2000 hectares of National Trust heathland and moorland. As we wander through the valley we’ll follow alongside a water course before starting a slight ascend to “Lightspout Waterfall”.

At the waterfall we’ll continue our ascent to join the wild grazing ponies and sheep on the top of the heathland. Our route takes us to “Pole Bank” where we can, once again, experience stunning views of the surrounding area (including across to Caer Caradoc where we will have spent the morning).

Our return to town this time follows along the “Bur Way” before descending back into the Carding Mill Valley and retracing our steps back into town, where depending on time, we can treat ourselves to a well-earned refreshment in one of the town pubs!

These walks are largely on well kept paths and trails, however path surfaces will vary between grass, pavement, gravel, rock and moorland please ensure that you bring appropriate walking shoes. Similarly, these routes do include some steeper, but short, sections which may be steeper than those we typically encounter around the Chilterns so we will take extra breaks where needed!

Well-behaved dogs are welcome but must remain on a lead at all times and are the responsibility of the owner, and there will be sheep and wild horses grazing on the moor so please do not bring your dog if they cannot be kept under control in these situations.

Parking:

• The recommended car park for the day is “Easthope Car Park”, at only £4.80 for the day it can get busy, but there are plenty of spaces!
• Should Easthope be filled there is also “Cunnery Road Car Park” (note this is ~15 mins walk from the start point)
• Please arrive with plenty of time to park and make your way to the start point
• Given this is outside of our usual area, CYW would like to encourage car sharing where possible! If you’re happy to offer a lift, please pop a comment on the meetup to see if there’s anyone nearby looking for a lift.

Accommodation:

• CYW aren’t arranging accommodation, but understand that Shropshire is a bit further than our normal patch. Church Stretton, and the surrounding area, offer a number of accommodation options for anyone wanting to stay and explore further or spread their travel over 2 days!
• A number of self-catered options are available in the town via sites such as AirBnB and the YHA also offer private & shared rooms in the nearby village of All Stretton
• Additionally, there a number of campsites locally including “Camp and Fish Oaklands”, “Mowbray Meadow” and at the “Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre”
• Finally, Shrewsbury (~20 mins North) and Telford (~35 mins North-East) both boast typical hotel chains such as Holiday Inn, Premier Inn & Travelodge

It helps us if you to sign up and tell us you're coming. If you sign up and later find out you cannot attend please change your RSVP on Meetup so we're not waiting for you.

Become a full member: CYW are a part of the Ramblers and you may try up to three walks free. When you decide to continue walking with us, please join the Ramblers via 'Become a member'.

https://www.chilterns2030s.org.uk/new-members/becoming-a-member
Did you know we're on Instagram? Follow us at @ChilternYoungWalkers to see pictures from our walks!