The Lawley from Church Stretton 14th October 2023

Mike's rainbow.

A self-service coffee shop offered by Gaerstones Farm.

First views of Caer Caradoc.

A more complete view of Caer Caradoc from the track leading to Cwms Farm.

A wood carved buzzard on the roadside heading for Enchmarsh.

On the path shouldn't have taken!

First view of The Lawley.

The start of the path over The Lawley.

At the first "false" summit with its communication mast.  

The weathervane on the real top can just be made out betweenMike and Ed.

The man ridge of The Lawley lies ahead.

The highest point onThe Lawley with its bird weathervane.

Part of Caer Caradoc from the track across its northern slopes.

On the path through Houghs Coppice.

Caer Caradoc Hill from the All Stretton to Church stretton Road.

Mike's rainbow x 2.

Walk Stats:
Distance: 12.7 miles. Climb: 2123’.
Time: 6 hours 51 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.2 m.p.h.
Overall walk average: 1.8 m.p.h.
Temperature: 9.2 – 11.8 Celsius.
Beaufort Wind force: Max – 4 . Moderate breeze.
Group: Martyn, Mike and Ed.
The weather forecast for today suggested feel like temperatures of about7 Celsius, so I decided that use my Winter Paramo gear. This turned out to be a mistake as wearing summer shorts would have been the more comfortable option and I ended up with my Paramo jacket in my rucksack for most of the day. It was largely bright and sunny, although we did get a few very short showers. The only wind of note was as we walked along top of The Lawley when we had 14.7 m.p.h. gusts – no more than a moderate breeze.
Our route took on paths south of Caer Caradoc and The Lawley, and we had good views of the hills we hoped to climb later.
The route description that we had proved difficult to follow and we ended up heading towards Hurst Barn and ended up going through a farm complex to get to the road leading to The Lawley. Lunch was taken on Hoar Edge where we took advantage of an old wall on which to sit. Initially we were in bright sunshine, but our lunch break was cut short by one of the rain showers.
In future we would not take the track down to the valley and the Hurst Barn route taken today, instead we would continue along Hoar Edge to the road and follow the road to north east end of The Lawley to pick up the path heading up the ridge.
The climb along the ridge of The Lawley crosses over two mini-tops before reaching s the highest point with its bird topped weathervane.
As we descended from The Lawley we were entertained by several Ravens souring, tumbling and diving as they took advantage of the moderate breeze.
As it was getting late we decided not to attempt the climb over Caer Caradoc and instead follow the lower path across the northern side of the hill.
Once more the route description wasn’t easy t follow and we ended up going through Houghs Coppice and on to All Stretton, where we followed the road back to Church Stretton and the car.
Birds seen or heard today included: Common buzzard, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Raven, European robin, Common blackbird and Stonechat.
Overall an enjoyable walk, if you can forget about the final tedious road walk from All Stretton to Church Stretton.
After the walk Mike and I decided to visit a local hostelry for refreshments while Ed decided his preferred option was to visit the local chippy. Having rejected the Buck’s Head, we ended up in the busy King’s Arms, a Joules brewery outlet. This hostelry claims to welcome dogs and cyclists. We saw plenty (at least 4) of the former, but none of the latter unless they incognito!
Just as we were leaving the King’s Arms, it started to rain quite heavily, but it also threw up a magnificent rainbow that Mike managed to photograph with his phone camera.A late finish by the time we got back to Chester, too late to clean my boots and too tired to complete the blog.