To Ridge from Bishop's Castle and return

Today's walk did not start well, but the early problem worked to our advantage in the end.  In the guidebook's description of the walk, there was mention of the path emerging "by the village hall in Lydham".  Google Maps and Street View confirmed the location of the car park and there was no sign of one of those dreaded "private" signs, so we headed to Lydham, with the aim of walking between there and Ridges and back and then maybe walking on to Bishop's Castle, if we felt up to it (and maybe walking back to Lydham or maybe catching a bus back).  So it was to Lydham that we drove and parked in the large car park, which appeared to be being used by parents dropping children off had school but still to have plenty of space; then we noticed the small sign on the hall indicating that the parking was for the use of village hall users only. Bother!

We were in a rule-obeying mood (and I suppose they do have a point; if I arrived at a village hall for an event only to find their car park full of walkers' cars, I'd probably be less than happy) so we needed to find an alternative. There's a layby on the way out of Lydham on the road towards Bishop's Castle but there wasn't space there, so we decided to drive on to Bishop's Castle and park in the free Auction Yard car park (SO324886) that we'd found last year.  We were just about the first car here (good) though the toilets that I had been so pleased about last year were not open (less good).  Bishop's Castle is only a couple of miles from Lydham, but two miles each way is four miles - and the path doesn't take the direct route. Given the problems I've had with my feet and my general fitness level, I was worried about the resulting length of the walk, especially with the climb at the Linley Hill end of it. I needn't have worried;  we were very soon back on the route of the Shropshire Way, at the point we'd got to last year, and things began to improve. 

Heading north through the centre of Bishop's Castle, the road climbs steeply, but we were rewarded by some lovely old buildings, to say nothing of the representations of elephants. Yes,  I did say elephants...in Shropshire! Turns out this is in recognition of Clive of India who lived nearby. The former Market Hall, built by Clive's son, bore a carving of the family coat of arms, including an elephant,  which has been preserved and is now the start of a trail of elephant-inspired artwork around the town. We missed a turning down a narrow passageway so followed the road slightly further than necessary, to the edge of the town, where a well-maintained path brought us out onto an open hillside. We were still climbing, but it was pleasant walking and near the  Foxholes Castle campsite we were rewarded by good views and another elephant (see the photograph at the bottom of the page).

We continued across flatter fields, some of which were distinctly damp underfoot, but there were lovely views to higher ground in the distance, with the alpine feel to it that we'd commented on yesterday. A dog-leg in our route was caused by a right-hand turn onto a road and a walk along it, followed by a left-hand turn back onto tracks and paths; a kilometre or so further on, we emerged into the main A488, which we followed for a short distance, past the lay-by (which still had no space) to the Village Hall carpark, where there was masses of space. We sat on the wall of the carpark while I changed my socks, then walked slightly further up the road to look at the church. 

I'm afraid that our second visit to Lydham this morning didn't really improve my slightly negative view of the village, caused by the parking difficulties; maybe I was just put off by the busy road (a short section of the A488 and A489 combined) running through the middle. However, just to the north-east of Lydham there was a lovely section of walking, close to the strangely named hamlet of More, though it was again damp underfoot. We crossed a field close to where the map has Motte & Bailey marked and we decided that the "bumpiness" of the land was probably caused by the remains of the ancient landscape. Now, sheep were grazing and there ware views to the attractive church in More. 

We emerged onto a country lane and followed this for a while before turning right past the entrance to Linley Hall. We're members of the Historic Houses Association as well as the National Trust and, for various reasons, we've visited a fair few stately homes this year. One of the things that we've been commenting on is how grand the stable blocks often are (and indeed, they'd have housed a lot of horses and their grooms e.g. the stable block at Althorp House is reputed to have houses 100 horses and 40 grooms) and Linley Hall (which isn't open to the public) is no exception. Here, it is even the case that the stable block rather than the house is in a direct line from the entrance gates. 

We turned left and climbed up a straight narrow road, the start of the climb up Linley Hill. We could just make out a lake behind Linley Hall. A post van passed us and we wondered where it was going to; this isn't exactly a densely populated area! At Hayes Wood, the road splits into two (with a straight ahead road to Cold Hill and a slightly left-hand fork to The Bog) though the yellow lines representing each of these roads on the map are so narrow that they are hard to make out amongst the contour lines. The Shropshire Way actually takes a right-hand fork into the woodland slightly before the road junction. but we'd decided to follow a circuit for the descent and ascent of Linley Hill and (because I prefer steep ascents and gradual descents rather than the other way round) so we temporarily left the Shropshire Way* and continued on the narrow road that apparently leads eventually to Cold Hill (wherever that might be!). We were just going as far as Ridge!

It was absolutely delightful walking on a winding road that initially ran through woodland then continued through more open countryside with lovely views to our left. To our right was the bulk of Linley Hill.  It's a couple of miles from the road junction to the point we'd reached yesterday, but eventually there we were, back at the point where the Shropshire Way heads up Linley Hill to the east. So that was where we went. The climb wasn't as difficult as I'd feared it might be and we were rewarded by views  back the way that we'd come that just got better and better. 

As the gradient eased towards the top of the hill, we stopped for a brief chat with a  woman and dog coming the other way. We initially thought it was the same person we'd stopped to chat to yesterday, but it wasn't, though there was a certain similarity between them and both had collie-type dogs and appeared to be locals; we were left wondering if they were related. After a bit of difficulty with route finding and some squishy ground, we reached the row of trees where the Shropshire Way turns right, now with nice views in front of us. There was a distinct shortage of picnic benches but a fallen-down tree looked like a good place to stop for lunch; after a bit of scrambling to reach it, it was! 

After eating, we continued along the brow of Linley Hill, with good views to the flatter land to the south, and descending slowly past grazing sheep. Later, we were walking along what was essentially an avenue of trees and eventually, something over a mile from our lunch spot, we found ourselves passing through woodland, and back to the road at the point where we’d left it this morning (inidicated by the * above).  We retraced our steps along the road, down the hill, past Linley Hall, then left towards More. It started to rain so we stopped to put on waterproofs, and as we were doing so, we were overtaken by a couple of walkers who were carrying rucksacks and already wearing waterproofs. We’d overtaken them previously, while they were eating their lunch on Linley Hill, at a spot slightly beyond where we had stopped (and maybe they’d come past us as we were eating).

The rain didn’t come to anything and we decided to divert from our outward route to look at the hamlet of More more closely, so we stayed on the road rather than cutting across the field. This course of action is highly recommended; More is a delightful little place, with a collection of attractive old  timber-framed  buildings close to St Peter's Church, including Church Farmhouse and the Old Rectory.  And in front of the church there was a bench; an ideal place to sit to eat an apple and remove our waterproofs. The walkers who had overtaken us had clearly decided at a later stage to visit More as they arrived when we were already sitting on the bench (oops, sorry!). They stopped for a chat and confirmed that they were "sort of" walking the Shropshire Way; actually walking just one short leg, with the aim of camping in Bishop's Castle and returning tomorrow, to test out the idea of camping and carrying rucksacks. 

We followed the (very minor) road back to the Shropshire Way and followed this to Lydham. We could have caught a bus from here back to Bishop's Castle, but we were enjoying the walking so just kept on, retracing our steps from this morning. Rain threatened again as we headed west from Lydham, but we sheltered under a tree and it soon stopped, and by the time we got back to the elephant at Foxholes Castle Campsite the sun was shining. We speculated that this might be where the other walkers were spending the night; it would be a nice place to camp (though when we are carrying rucksacks this is only from B&B to B&B; I wouldn't want to carry camping stuff too). We continued on down the hill to Bishop's Castle. It was slightly disappointing that there didn't seem to be any cafes open, and the toilets in the carpark were still shut too. However, in general, the fact we hadn't been able to park in Lydham had done us a favour, as we had walked from Bishop's Castle to the point we reached yesterday without difficulty, and we'd very much enjoyed the walk. Had we just walked from Lydham to start with, I suspect we'd have then been reluctant set off from the car again for the walk to Bishop's Castle.

Following leg of Shropshire Way (anti-clockwise)