Clee Hill

 It had been a while since I had been out with the hill walking group but I was ready to take on the Shropshire Hills.

We started just outside of Bridgnorth and headed for Brownclee

 It was a hot, humid day and the uphill started almost straight away.

 Some of the paths weren't great.

 And there was a lot of water running through them after all the storms we'd recently had.  Some of the paths were thin gullies where the water had cut through the soil down to the rock layer and really quite difficult.  Too difficult to be able to get a camera out.

 There were plenty of rhododendrons around to bring joy to me, if not the woodland management.

 and the paths got steeper still

 We joined the Shropshire way

 To the top of Brownclee at 1772 feet

 The views were stunning and in the distance was Clee Hill (no, not the first hill you see, the second one...gulp) and between us and that was a huge valley

 So down we headed, past Monkey's Fold.

 And onward to Clee Hill

 The storms had taken their toll again.

 The day was getting hotter and that hill didn't seem to be getting any closer!

 It was pleasant walking through the valley.

 It didn't even look so big once I started to get closer.

 It was a hard climb though.

And the top was just ahead of me I thought.

 I was wrong, the first brow was no where near the top!!














But it was worth the 1749 feet once at the top.  It was such a still day, just warm up there and 100s of swallows flying all over and so close to our heads you heard the whoosh as they whipped past.

Well once up there is nothing to do but head down so onward we went with Pen-y-fan just visible in the distance. I was quite proud to say "I've been up that"


We made it to the pub just as it was time to leave which was a shame given the heat of the day but the short walk onto the carpark where the bus was waiting took me straight past an ice cream shop and there was no queue...it would have been rude not to get one!

With a quick change of boots to shoes and a quick change of  sweat wet t-shirt in the carpark (that caused a stir, apparently not the done thing!) it was onto the bus and away.

It was only 12 miles but a tough day.  Great fun.