3 practice walks on Stiperstones and Long Mynd - Easter 2012

Well I've just returned from a long Easter weekend in Shropshire shared with Dawn, Graham and Debbie. We took the caravan and motorhome to a site we've been to before called the Lilac House in Pennerley which is at the foot of the Stiperstones National Nature Reserve. Considering that it was reasonable weather when we left Leicestershire, you can imagine our surprise when we arrived on site to a foot of snow!! Thank goodness for Land Rover - otherwise I wouldn't have got the van onto the field. Graham arrived a few hours later and had to put the snow chains on the bus to get it on the field.

We had a great weekend starting with a decent walk - not sure of the mileage, but it took us 7 hours - over the Stiperstones and beyond. It was incredibly hard work - the first 2 hours spent wading through snow sometimes up to waist height (I kid you not) often up to our knees. Although strength sapping, it was great fun. 7 hours later we returned to the vans completely soaked and knackered!

The following day me, Graham and Debbie walked just over 20 miles up over the Stiperstones and eventually up onto the Long Mynd - a huge walk and equally huge challenge - still battling deep snow in places, biting cold and thick cloud and occasional driving rain up on the Mynd. Nevertheless, it was a great day and we returned to Dawn and the vans as knackered as the day before and I took comfort in a home made chicken curry and a couple of bottles of good French red!

The next day saw Dawn and I return to the top of the Mynd via Carding Mill Valley - absolutely stunning!

So, a great weekend with more miles walking than I can remember - I've added a few photos which I hope give you a flavour of the weekend and the walking in particular. These are ones I took with the Ipod, so not sure how good the quality is? I've taken about 200 with the Lumix and am happy to share. If you want to see all the photos or hear more about the walk just give me a shout.

Russ