Church Stretton Sunday Coach walk on 17 August

P LEASE NOTE THAT THE DURATION OF THIS EVENT SHOWN ABOVE IS ONLY APPROXIMATE AND CANNOT BE GUARANTEED; IT WILL DEPEND ON FACTORS SUCH AS THE WEATHER AND THE WALKING PACE OF THE GROUP.

Our Sunday rambles usually have three levels of walk, strenuous (A), moderate (B) or leisurely (C), led by Birmingham Ramblers group leaders. Join us and enjoy a great day of social walking with our friendly members.

Please note: Our walks are often on rough tracks and rights of way through fields, woodland and hills. Walkers should preferably wear walking boots and other clothing suitable for the weather. Unless otherwise described, please bring a packed lunch and refreshments for the day.

This Sunday walk has 3 levels of walk:

• A Walk: 11.5 miles, 2060 ft total ascent.
• B Walk: 8 miles. Total ascent: 1600 feet.
• C Walk: 5.5 miles with 1,200 ft of climbing.

Walk leaders:

• A Walk: Peter Searle
• B Walk: Brenda Cameron
• C Walk: Kate Chester

Walk details:

• A Walk: Church Stretton (Ragleth Hill and Long Mynd). Starting by the station, we cross the main road and follow a bridleway past Snatchfield Farm to a minor road. After a short distance on this road, we turn up a track and then a footpath which climbs to the top and then follows the ridge of Ragleth Hill, giving fine views in all directions. At the south end of the hill, we descend very steeply, then cross the A49 to Little Stretton. From here we climb an attractive path skirting Callow and Round Hill to reach the minor road at Pole Cottage on the Long Mynd. Here we join the Jack Mytton Way over the high point Pole Bank, with views on a clear day as far as the Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog), Cader Idris and Snowdon (Eryri). We continue on a path that passes to the north of Jonathan’s Hollow, before joining a bridleway that descends into this steep-sided valley. We will follow the valley floor to the outskirts of All Stretton, then footpaths and minor lanes back to Church Stretton.
• B Walk: The walk starts south of Church Stretton at the village of Little Stretton which lies at the foot of Long Mynd. From here we ascend the Mynd on a route which passes by Callow Hill, Barrister’s Plain and Round Hill. This is a long and gradual ascent, not at all steep, which offers beautiful views to right and left of us across the Mynd’s beautiful valleys and opportunities for pauses to enjoy these surroundings and many photo opportunities. We arrive at the wide plateau at the top of the Mynd and make a short detour to Pole Bank the highest point at 516 metres with distant views to the west well into Wales. After a short time on the plateau our descent route is flat at first before we start getting views of the panorama of hills to the east of Church Stretton; then down a bit more to the head of the Townbrook valley. To the side is Yearlet a small hill which we will circle round and ascend, a lovely little grassy hill and great views to the southwest. Back to the valley head we pick up a path to moorland and road on Burway Hill. From here it’s downhill to the last part of the walk a circuit of Rectory Wood and Field. Rectory Wood once formed part of the grounds of the rectory in Church Stretton. In around 1770 the rector made great changes to create a designed woodland landscape garden. It is said Capability Brown may have inspired the design. What we see today are some partially preserved remains of the designed landscape and some wonderful gnarled ancient trees. A striking contrast to the Long Mynd landscape! From the top of the town it’s a short walk back to our coach. Distance: 8 miles. Total ascent: 1600 feet. No stiles. Picnic lunch
• C Walk: Circular walk from Church Stretton railway station. The walk goes over Ragleth Hill which is 1,300ft high to the South East of Church Stretton. Smaller than the surrounding hills, with good views. The walk starts up a road eventually leading to a gentle climbing grassy track and then into woods along another gently climbing track. Out of the woods for the last 100ft of climbing to the top, the track becomes steeper through grass and bracken. We walk the wide ridge of Ragleth along a grassy track. The 900ft descent into Little Stretton is down a very steep grassy track. There is a pub in Little Stretton where we can stop for refreshment. The 2.5 mile route back to Church Stretton is undulating along mainly wooded paths. There are pubs, cafes and toilets in Church Stretton before getting to the coach park. Picnic lunch.

There are a limited number of total places for the walks, which is set by the capacity of the coach. Whilst we hope that everyone will be able to be accommodated on their walk of choice, the allocation of places for each walk will have to be done on the day. No-one will be expected to walk at a higher grade than they prefer - thus, for example, if you prefer the B walk you will not be asked to join the A walk but may be asked to join the C walk. The booking form allows you to specify your preferred walk.

Joining instructions

It will only be possible to join the walk by coach, which will be picking up at 09.00 at the layby at the side of St. Chad’s Cathedral, Queensway, Birmingham B4 6EU. Note that this is not the Cathedral car park in Shadwell Street, which has postcode B4 6EY.

The coach fare will be £20 with 3 options for payment:

• Cash on the day in an envelope with your name and the date of the walk. We are unable to give change for cash payments
• Cheque on the day, made payable to COBRA, in an envelope with your name and the date of the walk.
• Bank transfer in advance of the walk

For payment by bank transfer the walk coordinator will contact you about a week in advance of the walk with bank details. For payments on the day, please put the exact fare in an envelope with your name and date of the walk on it, which will be collected on the coach - unfortunately we are unable to give change for the coach fare.

Note that you cannot pay the coach fare through our Eventbrite account. Your booking for the walk will still show £0.00 but you do have to pay the £20 coach fare on or before the day of the walk

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If you have a confirmed ticket:

Shortly after bookings have closed the walk coordinator will contact you by email to confirm that you will still be joining us on this walk; this is needed since there are limited seats on the coach and we like to release any unused places to others who may be on a waiting list. The coordinator will also give you our bank details if you have chosen to pay the coach fare by bank transfer. Please check your email, including Spam and/or Junk folders, shortly after bookings have closed for this walk and reply to let us know whether or not you will be still joining the walk.

If you have a waiting list ticket:

The walk coordinator will contact you by email shortly before the walk date to let you know if we are able to offer you a place. Please check your email, including Spam and/or Junk folders, shortly before the walk date and, if we are able to offer you a place, reply to let us know whether or not you will be joining the walk.

If you find that you are unable to join us after booking a ticket it would be helpful if you let us know by sending an email to bhamramblersenquiries@gmail.com - this will be passed on to the walk leader and will prevent any delay to the start of the walk should the leader be waiting for you. Please note that some walks have a waiting list so tickets are NOT TRANSFERABLE; if you are unable to join us then please cancel your place to free it up for someone who may be on the waiting list rather than sending someone else in your place.

Bookings for this walk will close at 06.00 on Monday 17 August. If you would like to join this walk after the bookings have closed please email bhamramblersenquiries@gmail.com to enquire about any late availability for the walk.

General Information

This is one of several walks and activities offered by the Birmingham Ramblers. If you have found this page through a web search or other means and would like to find out more about the group then please visit the Birmingham Ramblers web site; new members are always welcome.