Church Stretton; Long Mynd Circular

Our walk today is based on the HF Holidays self guided walk "Long Mynd and Carding Mill Valley" but modified to include a diversion via the Lightspout Waterfall.

Long Mynd (Long Mountain) is 7 miles long and 3 miles wide and was formed about 700 million years ago. There are now numerous valleys lying at the heart of the Shropshire Hills AONB.

From the Longmynd House, we walk via Rectory Wood and along the Townbrook Valley; Town Brook was the source of Church Stretton's first water supply - the reservoir, built in 1865, is now disused. There is then a gentle ascent up the Long Mynd; we eventually reach Pole Bank, its highest point at 1693ft (516m). From here, we double back along the Shropshire Way via the Long Mynd plateau and turn off at the Shooting Box (a former grouse shooting hut) down a path towards the Lightspout Waterfall; this is the only significant Waterfall on the Long Mynd and part of the Carding Mill Valley area. We then walk down via Lightspout Hollow to Mott's Road, the main path in the Carding Mill Valley; this area was originally the centre for the Church Stretton textile and wool industry in the 18th century (carding, in textile production, is a process of separating individual fibres, using a series of dividing and redividing steps). We them walk back along the other side of Rectory Wood to Longmynd House; it's been a good walk of about 6.8 miles.

Later, we had a walk around Church Stretton; it was nicknamed as Little Switzerland in the Victorian and Edwardian periods for its landscape.Read more