while you're ahead…

… No 1 man-child needed to be picked up at the end of his DoE practice expedition… from the hills of Shropshire today (which incidentally is not so ’round the corner’ from here…), so my sister and I decided to grab a sandwich and ‘go for a walk’.

We had leftover tiramisu in a tupperware and a map too.

Sorted.

We arrived in the charming village of Church Stretton and parked in the Carding Mill car park,  £3.60 will get you a spot all day (it’s free to National Trust members).  It’s a charming place itself… a little stream runs through it, there are lovely spots for picnics not far from the carpark, great facilities…

The Long Mynd is a heath and moorland plateau that is part of the Shropshire Hills and there are plenty of paths and cycle paths.

What an amazing place.  (They don’t designate places as AONB for no reasons… – Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).  Apparently in August, when the heather in bloom the place turns purple… I’ll have to go back.

The national trust offers a few free maps for different routes.  We felt fit and healthy and went for the big 8km one.

Yeah, about that…

Ask me tomorrow if it was a mistake… let’s just say that I’m not used to walk uphill and on such distances… ahem…

The air was fresh but the sun shone and the sky was sooooo blue… that dreamy uplifting blue…

We stopped for a picnic at the exact midpoint and made it back down in perfect time to pick up a… ‘fragrant’… No 1 and his enormous rucksack.

“Apparently” a change of clothes was not necessary and only extra weight…

Silly me.

Lilli, the ferocious beast, was very taken with the numerous sheep around us… and is now comatose on the sofa watching the rugby with Mr M.

 

I’m afraid I have a less then perfumed load of laundry to deal with… although I’m thinking the socks might need to be incinerated… or would that cause air pollution?