The Long Mynd

On leaving The Mumbles the front right tire had gone down again, I had only pumped it up two days before at  Laugharne in the church carpark, I had a fairly long drive ahead to Shropshire and didn't want to have to keep pumping the tire up so I found a tire garage and got a new one fitted. I also finally found the waterfall I was trying to find previously - Henryhd Falls, down a steep path but well worth it, it was like a mini Niagara what with all the rain. The force of the falls was so strong that it created it's own clouds that rose up like steam and drenching everything.

Henrhyd Falls

The Long Mynd is an upland heath and moorland plateau in the Shropshire hills in the shape of a triangle narrowing into a point at the southern end, on the western side the hills descend steeply onto the patchwork of fields and on the east a series of valleys with streams running down them. There is a shuttle bus service over the hills for walkers but this only runs at the weekends so I made my walks into loops starting and finishing at the Brow Farm campsite in Ratlinghope on the West side of the Mynd.

The campsite ducks

The Spitfire Solo with addition front step upgrade. So I could stand on it and take my shoes of.

    The forecast wasn't the best and it rained off and on for most of the first day, I walked up the hill from the campsite to the top of the Mynd and then descended into the Carding Mill Valley into the village of Church Stretton. I needed to get some cash out of the ATM for the campsite, opposite was a cafe that looked inviting enough, I ordered a coffee and a sort of apple turnover pastry. The pasty was inedible and the coffee was burnt, as I went up to pay I said I was only paying for the coffee because the pastry was gross! Another Gordon Ramsey Hotel Hell moment, I could just picture Ramsey sitting there making his usual comments, but sadly all of them would have been true. The day before I had gone into the Tourist Information office to buy a map, when I went up to pay and offered my card the man at the counter just said 'Oh no, we don't...' looking at my card like it was a small fart, so I had to pay in cash which is how I ran out of cash, I had forgot at the time I had got out enough only for the camping and that was it, so essentially I walked 11 miles to use an ATM.
    But really it was a nice walk, through the rain, other people walking were cheery enough and after ascending back up Ashes Hollow valley to the top of the highest point on the Mynd, there were some breaks in the weather and some lovely evening light over the valley. I felt like I could carry on walking for hours but it started to rain again so I hurried back down the hill to the campsite and into the safety of the Spitfire Solo.

Welcome and very nice shelter to have lunch and dry out.

Ethereal tree in Carding Mill Valley

View from the top of the Mynd's trig point.

    A walking route passing directly near the campsite, so the next day I walked in a large loop to the top of the start of the Mynd at its northern  point and then down its length past the summit again and to a Gliding club, I thought about walking the whole plateau but I'd still have to walk back, so descended about two thirds the way down and walked to a tiny village of Wentnor, where on the map it shows a pub symbol, it was 3pm and I'd been walking since 10:30am so was keen for a cool drink but the pub was closed despite a sign saying 'Open Seven Days'. At this point I met some walkers I had passed at the top of the Mynd who were walking a similar route but in reserve, I took their advice and headed up over what I call a Mini Mynd that lead directly to Bridges, the nice pub just before Ratlinghope. The Mini Mynd offered great views of the whole length of the Long Mynd, just as I reached the pub I was approached by some people asking to look at my map for directions back to Church Stretton - where they had just come from but didn't want to drive back that way because of the precipice. Surely it wasn't that scary? I thought the roads looked pretty good for driving as it was open you could see if anything was coming from a distance. It was certainly the most direct route on my map but there was a larger road that could take them on a roundabout route there instead.
    The day I was leaving I had earned the right to drive the short cut over the Mynd to get back to the A40 but before I did that I went to Stiperstones as recommended by the neighbouring campers. Stiperstones is  a quartzite ridge with a lot of scattered stones with some larger rocky tors on a hill that offers even more splendid views of the Long Mynd and surrounding area. It was well worth the visit, it was during the ice age that the rocks here were shattered into their current forms through constant thawing  and refreezing. I drove back to Ratlinghope and up to the Mynd the quick way this time - by car and into Church Stretton and onto Bath.