Shropshire April 2013 - Circular Walk from Clun

Ducks at Clun

Hills to the south of Clun

Thursday 18th April - both needed a walk, after two days in towns. Despite the unsettled, showery forecast, then, we went out, anyway. Actually, the weather was much better than expected, rain on the way to Clun, but the showers died out just as we were left Clun to begin our walk.  Again,  cold in wind.

View over the Clun valley looking south

From Clun, we did a circular walk, taking in the Shropshire Way, part of the Offa's Dyke path to Newcastle-on-Clun on the hills on the north side of the Clun valley. Then, uphill on the south side to a farm with several woofers and quite a few lambs at Spoad. Then along the Jack Mytton Way, following the lane down the hill into Clun. Nearly 11 miles. Felt further and harder going than the Longmynd walk earlier in the week, being very undulating, with more surprise hills on the way back, just as I'd thought we'd got that over with. Some steep bits along the Offa's Dyke path.

Enroute to Three Gates Farm

Parked in the car park near River Clun, bridge and Castle on far side. Various ducks here, along with musical loos, too  - entering the cubicle, tunes from songs by The Carpenters, played. As with similar, though non-musical facilities in Ludlow, a worrying message on locking the door, " "...protected by a security system. Your time in this facility is limited. You will be advised when to leave...". Pity the anyone doing their business too slowly, then...

View of Newcastle-on-Clun

Crossed over the footbridge over the Clun and followed the river around the foot of the Castle mound to the outlet of its tributary stream called the Unk - Clunk. Then over the Unk, across the field and uphill on the Shropshire Way. Continued onwards and mostly upwards to Three Gates farm, then around Hergen to the Offa's Dyke. Indeed here, it did look like a dyke. Views across the Clun valley and, from the higher ground, we could see the Longmynd and some of the hills we saw from there the other day  - Corndon Hill to the north. 

Near Three Gates Farm, looking south

The Offa's Dyke north of Newcastle-on-Clun

The first bit of the Offa's Dyke Path came down to a lane about a mile north of Newcastle-on-Clun. A couple of guys working here with a digger  - there are worse, less peaceful secluded places to do roadworks. 

"We're making good progress  - lunch by the river at this rate. ", said my Munros Man, just beyond the digger. 

I took this to mean, not too far to go now, to Newcastle-on-Clun and our lunchstop. This turned out to be was deceptive and a bit premature. Though only about a mile or so south to the Clun valley, much of it involved a long climb up a steep hill, then down an even steeper one along the Dyke. Passed a sign marking the half way point of the Offa's Dyke Path  - 88.5 miles each way, south to Chepstow and  north to Prestatyn. 

Tree shadows on the River Clun near Newcastle-on-Clun

At last on the flat, in the valley, just east of Newcastle-on-Clun, we had a quick lunch stop by the River Clun, just after passing the dilapidated farmhouse / adjoining buildings at the foot of the hill. 

Assumed from here, it would be an easy walk along the valley back into to Clun (if it had been, it would have been along the road, so a bit tedious). No such luck -  another long climb up hill on the south side of the valley, up to 400m, the highest point on the walk,  still following the Offa's Dyke Path, to the farm at Spoad. The dogs at the lane crossing here were woofers, rather than biters, but I was nervous because there were four or five of them and they came running up from the house and barn to the right. Leaving the woofers, and the Offa's Dyke Path here, we took the footpath across the field and downhill to join the track and the Jack Mytton Way. For the last couple of miles, this was along the lane which came out onto the main road, near the bridge in Clun.

River Clun near Newcastle-on-Clun

After tea and scones in the Maltings Cafe  - next to The Sun Inn, which used to be called The Sun at Clun. The village looked different how I'd remembered it from our visits in the mid to late 1990s. After our tea, a quick look round the Castle ruins. I didn't spend long here as the Castle was very exposed to the wind. Felt cold, despite the sun being out, making it look - as the lady in the cafe said - warmer from the indoors than it actually was.

Memories associated with Clun 

During his early 1980s cycle tour of  Shropshire and the Midlands, my now Cycling Man approached Clun,  racing down the long hill on the south side of the village towards the bridge, he was going so fast  by gravity that he broke the 30mph speed limit.

The Cluns - I pictured Hobbit (Tolkien) or  Diddy Men ( Ken Dodd ) like folk with orange-white striped road cones on heads. The Cluns have a good Teme spirit, or so Dad told me in his letter to me during the autumn term of my 2nd year at university, now over 25 years ago. The Clun flows into the Teme. We crossed the bridge close to the confluence at Leintwardine on Sunday. Dad illustrated these letters with black pen drawings. This one was all about my parents' trip to Shropshire. There was the Ironbridge iron bridge, a dip stick in the Severn here, high after October storms. There was  King Offa on his bicycle - "Remember Offa's Bike?". That started during the my early childhood Whitemead Park camping holidays, near the southern end of Offa's Dyke. I called it I called it Offa's Bike when I was five or six. Dad then ran with the image of Offa, King of Mercia, cycling the Welsh Border country, sounding his bell, similar to the ones we had on our kid cycles in the 1970s. His first letter a year before, had our pet labrador trailing loo roll, like the puppy in those Andrex  adverts, "Beware of the Pink Paper Brigade". The PPB  thing started with the letters I wrote to Grandad from university. I wrote a lot of letters to my two surviving grandparents. I didn't do phones well, particularly with no mobiles back in the late 1980s, unless you were very upwardly mobile in The City and thought walking around carrying a heavy brick made you look important. There was about one payphone between a student hall if about 600 people, so there was usually a queue in the evenings. Money saving incoming calls from parents etc also restricted.

Clun Castle

Clun Castle