A short local walk in the snow, on a cold frosty day - January 2003
Walks with a Camera © Geoff’s Pages 2011
We had promised ourselves a walk or two over
the Christmas holiday period - which more-or-less
guaranteed the fortnight of heavy rain...
However, on the first Saturday of the new year,
the rainy weather stepped aside for a cold frosty
spell, preceded by a sprinkling of snow. At last!
We parked by the village hall at Snailbeach, and headed up
through the now-preserved remains of the lead mines, over the
ridge to Lord's Hill, with its quaint chapel. From here, we began
the gentle ascent of the long ridge, passing through "the Hollies"
with the scattered twisted trees. Patchy mist drifted around, but
by the time we found some reasonably comfortable rocks for
lunch, the mist had cleared, and the views began to open out
towards the Long Mynd and, to the west, Corndon Hill and the
Welsh mountains.
We wandered as far the the Devil's Chair, the highest point of the
ridge at around 1750', before retracing our
steps a little way to the path down to
Perkins Beach. The air became bitterly cold
as we dropped into the shade in the deep
valley, and we were much relieved by the
warm fire at the Stiperstones Inn (not that
we needed an excuse).
Revived, we followed the hillside path through snow-sprinkled
gorse to the foot of Crows Nest Dingle (I'm not
sure why it's not a beach - all the other valleys
are so-named). The old Snailbeach District
Railway ran to a headshunt just up from the
dingle, and we gained the old railway track
here for the short walk back to the engine
shed, thence back to the car for some hot soup
and the short journey home. An excellent end
to the holiday!
