Walking the Shropshire Way. John Gillham

Although devised as a long-distance path, by 2014 the original Shropshire Way had become obscured in a network of routes throughout the county. In 2016, in order to recover the original route, I re-constituted the Shropshire Way Association. Our aim was not only to restore but also to preserve the Shropshire Way for the future. The decision was taken to build a website to act as a guide to walkers with the possibility of a guidebook at a later date.

I encountered the Shropshire Way in 1983 when I bought the first guide by Robert Kirk. Beginning with circular walks based on the route, I walked my first complete circuit in 2008 when the distinctive black and white buzzard waymarks were still in place. This was replaced by a re-designed waymark when Shropshire Council decided to introduce many alternative routes to the long-distance path.

The Association has negotiated and worked with Shropshire Council to identify a main route, design a new waymark and improve the footpath. I am proud and delighted that 10 years on we have launched Shropshire Way Main Route with distinctive orange, black and white waymarks.

I was delighted when John Gillham contacted me early in 2018 to say that Cicerone Press needed a guidebook to simplify the plethora of routes. John was the ideal person to write the guide being already familiar with the Shropshire Hills and very experienced in writing walking guides. Since then we have been working in partnership to retain the stages of the route, already established by the Association and to keep the data consistent across both media. John’s excellent route directions ideally complement the website which aims to make the route clear without including detailed directions.

This guide is an invaluable companion to anyone wishing to complete the whole circuit of around 200 miles or for those who wish to make several visits to Shropshire completing a few stages at a time. You will find supplementary information on places of interest on the way, whether historical, geological or even mythical but John’s excellent photography is bound to tempt you to every corner of the county. He has trodden every step of the way, experiencing Shropshire in all seasons and conveys his love of this unique and varied landscape in his writing. The original Shropshire Way was a circuit of the Shropshire Hills with a spur to Whitchurch. The new route includes the Meres and Mosses in the north of the county which are areas of Special Scientific Interest. Both loops are centred on Shrewsbury making repeat visits possible if using public transport. The new guide to the Shropshire Way, together with the website, will enable many walkers to discover and enjoy our beautiful county.

With this guide you will be well prepared for your walking holiday in Shropshire. You will know what to take, when to go and how to get there, even if you are one of those who up to now only understands that Shropshire is over west and somewhere near Wales. What a treat you have in store!

Audrey Menhinick

Chairman of Shropshire Way Association

https://shropshireway.org.uk

ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE

Half-timbered houses at Much Wenlock

INTRODUCTION

A dry Montgomery Canal near Pant

Shropshire has been blessed with some of England’s most serene rural beauty, from its colourful red earth, which adds a richness to the pastures and cliffs, to sleek escarpments, rocky outcrops and verdant pastured ridges in the south and its wide plains and charming sleepy villages in the north. In between, the River Severn slithers and meanders like a serpent on its long journey from mountain to sea.

Poets and artists over the centuries have eulogised about the county, including Wilfred Owen, Mary Webb and DH Lawrence. In A Shropshire Lad, AE Housman wrote:

In valleys of springs of rivers

By Ony and Teme and Clun,

The country for easy livers,

The quietest under the sun

And Shropshire as a whole is quiet and peaceful, with only two big towns: Shrewsbury and Telford. Others, such as Whitchurch, Ludlow, Bishop’s Castle and Bridgnorth, are small but very pleasant market towns, many with a violent and colourful past, for Shropshire borders Wales and has often fallen to the Celtic princes from the west. Ruined castles in all corners of the county and Offa’s Dyke on the western border are a testament to this past.

The Shropshire Way

The original Shropshire Way was conceived by local Ramblers Association groups in 1978 to link Cheshire’s Sandstone Trail with the Offa’s Dyke Path and was completed two years later. The route in the first guide by Robert Kirk had a northern extension from Wem to Grindley Brook near Whitchurch and routes through Shrewsbury to Bridges, onwards over the Long Mynd to Ludlow and back to Wem via the Clee Hills, Wenlock Edge,

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