The Long Mynd with Jen and Nick

The Long Mynd has been on the list to do with Jen ever since I started the 40 hills challenge. Jen is one of our oldest and best friends, and she got married to Nick last December. Nick, on the other hand, is one of our newest friends, having only met Jen a couple of years ago! We met on Saturday to climb the Long Mynd with both of them, planning 2 hills along the way.


It was a glorious day, warm and sunny, so we packed our picnic lunch and plenty of water, and set off from Carding Mill Valley by the National Trust tea room and shop and headed on up the valley towards the hills. We took the path up towards the waterfall, which was not as impressive as when we were last here in the snow in January. Most of the climbing was done here, and once we reached the Shropshire Way we headed for our first and highest peak:


Pole Bank with Jen


The higher we climbed, the greater our views, particularly looking back East over Church Stretton to Caer Caradoc, Lawley, Hope Bowdler and other (to us) nameless hills. As we approached the summit, Jen got into her stride and powered up the final slopes, beating us all to the trig point and toposcope. Once there, we had views West towards the Stiperstones and beyond. It was a little hazy, but nevertheless, better than being in the cloud! Jen has (wisely) got Nick to carry their lunch up the hill in their picnic rucksac, so they were able to enjoy drinks out of a wine glass (I never checked to see if they were glass or plastic...)


We all enjoyed lunch, and managed to take our photos of ourselves at the top before a crowd of other walkers arrived to spoil the view! We also saw a few mountain bikers around, cycling over the top. I also noticed that this part of the Shropshire Way is also part of the Ride UK network for horse riders. There were no riders around today though. Plenty of sheep, skylarks and crows, but no horses...


After lunch we headed off the top via a small path East down to the road, which we followed North for a short way, before picking up a path on the right signed to Townsbrook. This route headed up and down a bit (mainly down) until we could see our next destination:


Yearlet with Nick


Now, a word about Nick. As mentioned earlier, we are still getting to know him, and so, what to say about him? He is a writer, and has his own website. He is fond of horror stories and mysteries/legends, and has particularly liked those bits of my blog that have referenced local stories - check out The Roaches and The Wrekin for examples. So, what to say about the Long Mynd? There don't seem to be that many legends or stories about the Long Mynd, but I have discovered that some local legends have it that both Wild Eric and the White Lady haunt the Long Mynd. Wild Eric was a Saxon warrior, and while I'm not sure who the White Lady was meant to be, she apparently likes joining in with local dances. We didn't do any dancing, which is perhaps why we didn't see her on our walk. Further research (well, a quick google search) makes me wonder whether my original information was correct, and whether Wild Eric is, in fact, Wild EDRIC.

The tale of Wild Edric is both beautiful and sad, as all good storied tend to be. Edric was a great Saxon Lord in Shropshire, and loved to hunt in the Shropshire hills. Legend has it that one day he came across a beautiful maiden, whom he took back to his manor. He discovered she was non other than Godda, a Fairy Queen, and we married her. She agreed to marry him and remain in human form so long as he never reproached her for being Fairy. All went well for many years, until one day he lost his temper and broke his vow. She returned to the land of the fairy, and he never saw her again. He became a wild man, hunting for her across the hills. He died shortly after, but the legend tells that he can still be seen hunting for Godda across the hills...

He was not out hunting while we were there...

Yearlet looks like a small detour on the map, but when you get to the bottom of it, just as the path would otherwise descend back down towards Townsbrook, it seems like quite a climb. The direct route up (which we took) was steep, but not too long, and we managed it without too much difficulty. Jen, once again, managed to find some extra energy to storm up, allegedly running part of it! We found her sat on the cairn. The views from here seemed even better, and we could see Caer Caradoc better than before. We enjoyed a short rest before heading down, steeply, to the small pond which I assume is Townsbrook.

By now Monty was thirsty, and very hot. He managed to reach down for a drink from the pool, but I thought he could do with a cooling dip, so 'encouraged' him to jump in (OK, so I pushed him...). He was fine, although Bethan did accuse me of being 'very mean' to him. It certainly cooled him down!

It was only a short walk form there back to Carding Mill Valley, and the cars. We enjoyed a cup of tea and a scone and Bethan had a huge ice-cream.

It was a great day. Thanks Jen and Nick for these hills, and especially to Nick for the inspiration to research about Wild Edric...!