Much Wenlock to Shifnal

7 September 2010 - Much Wenlock to Shifnal

Distance - 14.2 miles

Weather - Changeable

We stayed at - Haughton Hall, Haughton Lane, Shifnal, Shropshire, TF11 8HG Cost - £105.00

From Much Wenlock to Ironbridge our route mostly followed the Shropshire Way. It was a good walk, firstly through farmland, then up onto Benthall Edge through Benthall Edge Wood. I was really looking forward to walking this stretch of the journey, as I love Ironbridge, having visited whilst on holiday in Shrewsbury a few years previously. Nowadays it looks an idyllic place, but the remaining buildings and structures give you some idea of what an absolute hell hole it must have been, in the height of the the Industrial Revolution.

Benthall Edge was a weird place. We were walking through woodland and it seemed very rural and tranquil, when all of a sudden we spotted some great big cooling towers through the trees. They seemed really incongruous. When we checked on the map, we discovered that they were part of a nearby power station. Further on we followed a disused railway line through the woods up above the River Severn, which near the end, gave us glimpses down to the Iron Bridge.

Although the footpath continued along the Ironbridge Gorge, we crossed over the famous bridge so that we could make use of the shops and cafes in the village of Ironbridge. We found a lovely cafe, which is in the attached picture, that gave us a stunning view of the bridge. Later, we crossed back over the bridge and, as the weather was really nice at this point, we wandered along the side of the River Severn until we came to a pub, where we sat and had a swift half. After that we passed by the Jackfield Tile Museum, crossed back over the river again and found ourselves in Coalport. Subsequently, there was a little bit of road walking to do on a dangerous piece of road on a very sharp bend, but we managed to get up to Brockton without getting squashed. We did have to shelter in a wood by the side of the road for a bit though to avoid a really heavy rain shower.

At Brockton, we took a series of footpaths to bring us into Shifnal. We had to make some adjustments along the way, as someone had decided to block the path using an electric fence, so we just wandered through their paddocks in as close a proximity as we could to the footpath. I was just willing them to come out and start talking to me about trespassing...

Just before Shifnal itself, the footpath went through the grounds of a large house, where there were high fences and security cameras trained on the footpath. There were also lots of notices along the way asking for people's help to keep the footpath open. I must admit that I took childish delight in making rude signs at the security cameras, just in case anyone was watching us. I was left with the impression that either the owners of the house were paranoid or that Shifnal was a really dodgy place. 

Anyway once in Shifnal we had quite a long walk through the town, then down a long drive to reach Haughton Hall. Once at reception we waited an age for a young man to finish a chatty phone call and actually check us in. I wouldn't have minded if he had been taking an important booking, but it seemed he had done all this and was just chewing the fat. Alistair gave me a hard stare when I started drumming my fingers on the reception desk! Our room, once we got checked in, was amazing with a huge four poster bed and enough room to play a decent game of football!