The Lawley near Church Stretton (Shropshire Hills) 10k Walk

10k approx 500m of ascent

A beautiful and usually windy walk over The Lawley near Church Stretton (Shropshire Hills). Commanding views of the Wrekin and all outlying hills. Final stretch over the little walked The Wilderness a real treat.

https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/route/4211655/The-Lawley-Circular-via-Willstone

Recommend the Royal Oak pub in Cardington, circa 15th Century free house. Great for Sunday Lunch but check opening times for the rest of the week. You can extend this walk buy continuing up Caer Caradoc to the Three Fingers Rock at the southern end and the returning via the drovers road. 




Also an option to carry on to the Gaer Stone and return Willstone Hill via Battle Stones rocks. This is not marked as a green ROW but the path is obvious.
Suggest in the afternoons North to South over hills is best so you are walking  towards the sun.

Yes OK, i read 'The Old Straight Track' by Alfred Watkins some Forty Years ago

Out for a blustery walk today over The Lawley near Church Stretton and i came across a couple unusual features in the landscape. There are two dominating hillforts in Shropshire, The Wrekin and Caer Caradoc, The objects of interest fell in a direct line of site between the two locations. The large stone has been incorporated as a field gate post, the smaller object possibly a marker stone some stands hundred meters away.

Yes OK, i read 'The Old Straight Track' by Alfred Watkins some Forty Years ago, and my interest in old track ways is regularly rekindled every time by Robert Macfarlane brings a new book out.

The low sun in winter months betrays the underlying bones of the land, and in this part of Shropshire the bones are close to the surface. OK two waymarked points over 20k are pretty slim evidence for a track but their particular location was enough to spark some interest.

Walking roughly south west up the shallow valley between Enchmarsh village and Hoar Edge, Caer Caradoc hillfort disappears from view, the large stone, currently an exceedingly functional gate post, is sited right on a col and if used as a guide on the horizon would bring any traveller precisely in the right position to view the gentle descent to Caer Caradoc. The smaller marker stone in a field some visible distance away would bring you on course to The Wrekin. On the OS Map the alignment does seem to go through a few a few key points that would pass the 'Watkins' test, an ancient Medieval religious site, several small natural sighting ponds, a ford in a small river, and several place names ending in 'stone' etc. There is no written information of the OS maps for both these points, that was why i found it of interest, and no published information on the Internet, so its all pure amateur speculation, and the big stone may just turn out be an old gate post...but hey you never know.