Shropshire - A November Walk and Railway Weekend

This weekend was planned to suit both keen walkers and others who just like meeting up to enjoy a social occasion.

The first rendezvous for 17 of us was the welcoming Castle Hotel at Bishops Castle on Friday evening. As is usual on a Friday we all arrived at different times, but the dining room had been reserved for our exclusive use and we spent a long enjoyable evening lingering over our meals and catching up on each other's news.

Saturday's walk fulfilled a promise made in Shropshire last year, when the Sunday walk was rained off. This had naturally caused disappointment at the time and it was agreed that it would be repeated at a later date. It was, and was led by local member Christina van Duivenbode who originally planned it. On a fine dry day with some sunshine this time, 26 of us set off through country that featured in The Secret of Grey Walls. The first leg along the highest part of Offa's Dyke at Llanfair Hill ended at Garbett Hall. Located as it is almost directly on the dyke, makes it a possible contender for Grey Walls. We returned via Little Selly and took the lane back to the crossroads, where the Lone Piners met up after their night-time search for sheep thieves. From there, our final leg followed the track via Burghfield Farm (the likely inspiration for Bury Fields) back to the starting point. After returning to Clun, some, including two new members attending their first event, made the pilgrimage to HQ3 before continuing to Bishops Castle for rest and recuperation. In the evening we all met up at The three Tuns for drinks and a meal. Again, the arrangements and the food were good.

Sunday was more leisurely and also an experiment. From time to time we hear comments that gruelling walks are fine for some, but that less-able members would enjoy something different, so this was a response. We drove to Bridgnorth and met up at the Severn Valley Railway Station. It was Remembrance Sunday and among the many Acts of Remembrance that took place nationwide, one conducted on the station platform was attended by many of our group.

Then the friendly welcoming guard of the train conducted us to our reserved seats and even arranged for some to climb excitedly onto the footplate of the steam engine, where many a photograph was taken, before we set off. The journey alongside the river Severn to Highley was a delight, with bright sunshine lighting up the yellows and golds of autumn. The guard had evidently been well-briefed. We not only learned that our coach built by The Great Western Railway was over 70 years old, but also that the Mortons might well have travelled in an identical coach after they changed trains at Shrewsbury in 1943. After a carvery lunch at The Ship Inn, we visited The Engine House, home of the Severn Valley's reserve locomotive fleet and the Royal Saloon that was actually used by the late King George VI at the time Saville's early Lone Pine books were written.