Words & Photos Roger Butler

April 01 2010

The first time I hiked over the Stiperstones I got completely soaked and ended up sheltering for half the afternoon in a dense dark conifer plantation. The landscape has been changing since then, and those trees have recently disappeared as part of a major plan to return the southern section of the ridge back to open windswept moorland.

In the near future it will once again be possible to walk most of the seven miles of the Stiperstones with heather underfoot and buzzards overhead.

But signs indicated that today I would be more likely to see a helicopter than a bird of prey. Bracken spraying was taking place to encourage habitat recovery and the chopper was due to make sorties over the pudding-shaped Black Rhadley Hill and the cleared areas immediately to its north. It was tempting to pretend the notices weren’t there, but within five minutes of setting out, a loud and very low whirring noise made me curtail plans to walk the full ridge.

From Nipstone Rock – one of several quartzite outcrops now seeing daylight again – I followed the Shropshire Way along the edge of one of the remaining plantations and crossed the lane to head onto the highest section of the ridge. A sharp shower blew in from the west but I was able to take cover right by the summit at Manstone Rock. Looking east, sunshine and shadows played games over on the Long Mynd and helped to emphasise its steeply rounded contours.

Next up was the Devil’s Chair, the legendary meeting place of Shropshire’s witches, with a jagged tor-like appearance that always reminds me of Dartmoor. Stories say that when the mist is down the devil will be on his throne, but I always hope to be there on a fine day since the views are wide and far-reaching. Out to the west I was able to spot Cadair Idris, while just a few miles away the brooding wedge of Corndon Hill stood guard over the twisting valley of the River Onny.

Paths along the Stiperstones are surprisingly rocky underfoot, but these gradually changed to grassy tracks beyond Shepherd’s Rock, from where I headed due north before dropping sharply down among the tight slopes of Crowsnest Dingle. The oldest holly trees in Europe hang on up here, and many years ago they will have listened to the noise from busy lead-workings, which once dug deep into some of the lower hillsides. The scars are starting to heal, but I always enjoy industrial archaeology and there was plenty to take in as I wound my way back via Mytton Dingle, the slopes of Green Hill, and open moorland above the isolated hamlet known, amusingly, as The Bog.

Distance: 9.5 miles/15 km Ascent: 1420ft/430m Time: 4-6 hours Start/finish: Car park on minor lane running south from The Bog (GR: SO 356971) Map: OS 1:25,000 Explorer sheet 216 (Welshpool & Montgomery) Information: Church Stretton, 01694 723133; The Bog Visitor Centre, 01743 792484 Travel: Shuttle bus information from visitor centres or www.shropshirehills.info

Technical Spec
Turn SSW down lane to Rock Cottage. Take path climbing onto Stiperstones ridge, and walk NE following Shropshire Way signs to cross lane. Continue along well-worn path towards rocky outcrops. Leave Shropshire Way soon after Devil’s Chair and walk NNE for one mile to Blakemoorgate. Fork left and descend into Crowsnest Dingle. Turn left at road, around bend, and almost immediately take path S then SSW along lower slopes of Oak Hill and Green Hill. From Perkins Beach, take path past farm buildings and alongside woodland, then turn S to climb steep path onto moorland. Bridleway leads across moors to lane. Either descend to The Bog (refreshments at visitor centre) or directly retrace steps back to Nipstone Rock and car park.