Over Christmas we reminisced with James and Beth how much fun we had when we went camping in Derbyshire, and were sad that camping was so very far off in the distance. So we booked a cottage, and off we went to Shropshire!
After many days on the internet, we decided on the vicinity of Church Stretton in "Little Switzerland", home of hills and moorland. Our rather fine cottage was at the foot of Caer Caradoc:
On Sunday we set off up Long Mynd:
We walked up a steep-sided valley with a marvellously chuckling stream ("That stream is happy, Mummy!"), and found an unfeasibly steep slope on which to eat our lunch.
When we got to the top, we found ourselves in heavily folded moorland.
Though some of us didn't find the scenery too riveting!
We made the obligatory trip to the highest point to see the view. It was hazy, but beautiful, though not easy to photograph.
We almost lost our way along the many footpaths that appear in open access land, but trusted our instincts (the compass was buried at the bottom of the rucksack!), and were rewarded with a narrow gorge with another great stream and an un-photographed waterfall.
There was tea and cake, a bit of map chewing and a very furry caterpillar.
We finished with, ironically, the steepest climb of the whole walk, but it was generally regarded to be lots of fun!
On Monday, it was sunny and so we were incredibly active (can you see how much cake is on that table?), and wandered into Ludlow for some exploring, castling and lunch eating.
We were refreshed by Tuesday and ready to climb Caer Caradoc in the sun.
We stopped for refreshments 7/8s of the way up and to admire the view.
And the little boy walked the last bit himself!
Does anyone else see the spitting image of Ian here?
It really was the most stupendous walk!
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