Today, myself and Angela did a classic Shropshire walk on the Stiperstones ridge, followed by a walk to Nipstone Rock. It would be a distance of 9-miles and 1,540 ft of ascent. However, our journey began in the picturesque town of Church Stretton.

I put the location into Google Maps and stupidly chose the shortest route. It would be a half hour drive to the East Bog car park. Well, what a drive on top of the Long Mynd (nice views) and unfortunately along single lane roads, lined with hedgerows and no passing places. My nerves were frazzled. And then suddenly, in front, is a large HGV with its hazard warning lights flashing, stopped and completely blocking the narrow lane. I thought the driver might get out of his cab and tell me what was happening but he didn’t. So instead, I went to the lorry cab and asked if he was waiting to turn into the nearby farm. Turns out, he had broken down with a fractured air pipe and his lorry now unable to move. He said he was waiting for the breakdown wagon to arrive. I wished him luck and did a three point turn and looked for somewhere else to park – luckily we found the main Stiperstone visitor car park. There was only one other car there which was no surprise at 08:00.

So, after all that excitement I fired up my phone to get the map only to find the mobile signal was poor. As we could see the ridge we started off walking up the track where we met a herd of wary cows coming down – we stood to the side and let them pass.

The Stiperstones is a succession of serrated quartzite rock pinnacles that punctuate the ridge in this remote area of Shropshire. Angela decided to scramble to the high point of one of the pinnacles – I was thinking if she falls I have no mobile signal to call for help. Thankfully no incident occured.

The path across the ridge is very rocky so we needed to be very careful where we put our feet. The ridge is covered in heather and we had glorious views over Shropshire.

We descended from the ridge and made our way to the Bog Visitors Centre. Unfortunately, it would not open until 11:00 so sadly we missed visiting it. We did see the broken down lorry which was still there but a couple of rescue vehicles were also there.

Close to the Visitors centre were some information boards that told the story of the lead mining activities that were carried out near the village for 200 years. In fact, the visitors centre was previously the village school.

Having read the information boards we continued along our route to Nipstone Rock. The heather was very colourful.

We were following a section of the Shropshire Way. Ferns crowded in around us – a check for ticks would be necessary at the end.

We passed under Nipstone Rock and then followed the Shropshire Way along an undulating route. It was tough going in the heat. The surrounding fields were parched.

Eventually we arrived back at the car – the car park was full.

On getting back to the car I chose a longer route home, mostly avoiding the narrow lanes (and broken down lorry – I hope its not still stuck there!). It had been a good day out exploring Shropshire.

Happy Walking! 🚶😊