Lynley to Church stretton

Tonight Steve (my Husband) has written this blog as  I am on cooking duty, and it was a roast that was going to take a while to peel spuds, parsnips, sweet potatoes and carrots; not to mention the stuffing and roseberry topping trifle for afters.!  Over to Steve ....


This is no day 7 and the route took us from Lynley to Church Stretton, supposedly just over 12 miles but our regular readers will be aware that the mileage in our guide book is a little under valued! Today we finished recording a distance of just over 14 miles. Today was the most ascent we walked at 2888 feet that consisted of 3 very big hills and of course if you go up you have to come down and two of the drops were very steep and we were all conscious of knees.

Steve W is there somewhere after taking a photo of us all!

The Stiperstones.

Additionally large parts of the walk were hard going insomuch that the paths were various sizes of rock that slowed us down as every step had to be monitored. Tops of big hills bring stunning views and today was no exception with stunning views of the Shropshire hills and although the visibility was a little hazy it took nothing away from the amazing vista. None of us realised that Shropshire was such a lovely county and as we neared Church Stretton in the valley we were surrounded by hills and the locals refer to this as little Switzerland.

The trip in the mini bus was a bit interesting this morning as we came across a sheep with 2 small lambs trying without success to return to the field with her friends and careering all over the road. It was an accident waiting to happen so I and ex farmer John with the help of other motorists returned them to a field. Whether it was the right field we will never know!

Church Stretton is a really nice place, the hill we walked down into the town has an accompanying river that attracted families with small children playing in the water or having a picnic. The ice cream stall was doing a good trade but we declined as although we are burning lots of calories we are also eating a bit too well. Last night we had a tremendous chilli (cooked by Walt, Alan and Stuey)followed by Strudle and what with our mid day lunch and cake on returning to base the pounds are starting to pile on some of us (no names mentioned).

Lat night after our evening meal our ukulele band provided our entertainment with some community singing with me doing ‘Ernie, the fastest milkman in the west, and Alison singing ‘Parsley
Sage Rosemary and Thyme with excellent backing by Steve W, Pat, Jacqui and Lyn. At 9.45 we all escaped to bed and poor Alan was photographed not being too alert at the end of the concert. (photo tomorrow!)

Tonight to keep up the high standard of cuisine we are having roast chicken.

Last night the property owners asked us to help them out. They had a massive keg of draught lager that required using and would we assist. Some of the lads were kind enough to help them out! No wonder Alan was tired.