The Wrekin

It’s becoming a bit of a habit that when on holiday to somewhere new, I head uphill to reach the top of a local highpoint.  The cottage had a clear view of The Wrekin with its broad north-western slopes dominating the vista.

I made the short drive to one of the laybys below the landmark hill that is isolated from the other Shropshire peaks.  Straight ahead was the start of a track that led rightwards away from the road and uphill through the trees.  The incline was steady as the track wound its way upwards, as part of the Shropshire Way, past Wrekin Cottage before reaching the main ridge and its more open canopy as it led south-west towards the summit.  There had been some opportunities to take shortcuts off the track on some less defined tracks but that appeared to be in more dense forest and the ground underfoot looked rougher and probably didn’t need the extra erosion.

Passing through the lower Hell Gate led to the higher Heaven Gate, itself leading to the summit plateau.  Here the views open up with Caer Caradoc and The Long Mynd clearly seen and the more distant Malvern Hills presenting themselves as a challenge to be identified.

the tiled trig point

toposcope, true summit just left of the mast, trig point

The Wrekin is an obviously popular hill.  I saw families, dog walkers and runners among those either going up or down and most of them weren’t wearing “normal” hillwalking attire.  It’s easy walking and impressive summit views make it an attractive challenge for those with a couple of hours to spare.  The trig point has a base decorated with tiles and there is a toposcope to that point out notable features in the near and far distance.

the toposcope

The true highpoint lies about 100 metres north on a small mound overlooking the north-west escarpment.  I enjoyed the views from there for a while and rang my wife, getting her to look through the binoculars from the cottage to see if she could see me – she could!