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A couple of days of gentle walks pubs and barbeques on one of the few sunny weekends of the year.
Church Stretton lies between two groups of hills, the Long Mynd which is a great broad plateau riven by deep valleys, and the Secret Hills - surprisingly steep shapely hills with rocky outcrops, culminating in the surprisingly precipitous Caer Caradoc hills. A late start and a leisurely stroll through the outskirts of Church Stretton found us looking up at the Shropshire Suilven of Gaer Stone.
A steep pull up through a green sheep pasture gave a view back to Church Stretton and the Long Mynd
A green cropped grass path through the bracken led up to the Gaer Stone and a brief detour to climb it.
Carrying on to the top of the broad grassy ridge of Hope Bowdler Hill which offered fine views across to Caer Caradoc and its hill fort.
We followed field paths and lanes down to the chocolate box village of Cardington. It was eerily quiet and seemed to be inhabited only by parked Range Rovers. The plan had been to get a drink at the pub. Unfortunately it had closed for the afternoon by the time we got there as a man drinking tea on the patio informed us with slightly too much schadenfreude in his voice.
So we headed back towards Church Stretton through wheatfields, encountering a combine harvester at very close quarters. The less energetic headed straight for the town (it was a hot sticky day). The rest headed for the looming crest of Caer Caradoc. A gentle zig zagging path made short work of it and we soon emerged at the airy summit which has commanding views to the Shropshire plain and the Wrekin.
From the summit we followed the ridge down over impressively precipitous drops, then down a steep, slithery path back down to Church Stretton.