Approaching Church Stretton on A49 from north, I turned right at the lights following sign for town centre. Then almost immediately I turned very sharp right again onto Essex Road. There is a signed footpath heads off on the right of this inbetween no. 56 and a tiny bridge over a tiny stream. I followed this over the railway and over the A49 and up to a crossroads. Here I took a lane off to the right signposted Caer Caradoc, 0.7 miles, 20 minutes. I was going a much longer way around but I’d say as a time from here to the summit that is a bit optimistic. After a bit the lane crosses a cattle grid. On the right just at this point there are, in very close succession, a footpath signed going off along the left hand side a of a field, a house, a track that informs us that it is “unsuitable for motor vehicles” and finally a signed footpath going off along the right hand side of a field. I wanted the latter. It’s a big field. Eventually the path, by now a track, leaves it for a wooded glade at the very foot of Caer Caradoc’s southern ridge where a footbridge off to the left is the direct way up. On the map the track carries on to pass something called Cwms Cottage, but I could see no sign here of human habitation, and an information board. Eventually I turned off very near the summit of the attractive strip of high grassy ground called the Wilderness, which I followed northeast for about a kilometre until a track led back down to the tarred road. I followed this over a crossroads and past the village of Enchmarsh, then took a track on the left which led to Hoar Edge which led to another tarred road which led, after a bit of wiggling, to the northeast terminus of the ridge that is the Lawley.
From here it’s a beautiful walk up and over this pleasant grassy ridge with wonderful views of all the Shropshire Hills. It busied up too and I started to meet people – round by the Wilderness it had been pretty quiet. Eventually the ridge descends to Comley Farm. The last field was grazed by a herd of Highland cows. They were far away when I crossed but they had done their work churning up the ground and it was extremely muddy. Next objective Caer Caradoc. I was getting tired now and it looked very big. On through Comley and past the hairpin to a track on the left quickly left for a path of the left quickly left for a branch path on the right which is the direttissima way up Little Caradoc. Steep but not to the point of feeling too precarious. Less steep from there to the summit of Caer Caradoc itself. Thence a pleasantly gentle grassy descent as far as Three Fingers Rock and thereafter a brutally steep but mercifully short descent took me back to aforementioned footbridge and so home again.
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