Top of Shropshire at last

4 November 2012

Despite being in and around Shropshire for around 25 years, we have to admit that we have never scaled the county's highest peak, until today.

The Clee Hills have always seemed to be tucked so far away in the far corner of the county that we've just never got round to it, but having done plenty of walks on and beyond the Mynd we thought we really need to get to the top of Brown Clee.

Our route is a circular one around The Shropshire Way, found on shropshirewalking.co.uk. A drive across the lanes to Abdon took us down roads and through villages we never knew existed, something that is all too common in Shropshire. Having parked at the village hall at 11.30am, which actually looks more like someone's house but has a reassuring sign, we set off on the path towards the hill. Although the walk goes to the highest point in the county at 540m, the ascent is not that tough as you are already quite high up at the start. We negotiated the first couple of stiles OK but then ran immediately into navigational issues. The footpath sign and the map suggested we head across a field but it took us a while to work out how to get on to the next path which is in a gully and is either a sunken green lane or a stream, perhaps depending on the season.

Once on our way up we got a good view across to the Shropshire Hills and the Long Mynd before the path joined the lane at Abdon. Community action is clearly alive and kicking in this village (hamlet?) as a former red telephone box was now playing a role as the community library. "Borrow a book and leave one  for someone else', reads the sign and the locals have decked it out with shelving and a neat tiled floor. A modern, rather soul-less BT telephone sits alongside. 

The route then joins The Shropshire Way and turns left up onto the side of the hill. A noisy group of five ravens were busy over the top of Abdon Burf and a feisty crow decided to take on a majestic hovering kestrel and continued hounding it until it disappeared over the top. The route circles the hill through a beech plantation and then joins the former railway track to the summit. We stopped at the foot of the track to have lunch at 1pm, having gone about 4.4km, a bit slower than expected but we had stopped for quite a few photographs.

The tram route takes you right up to the top of Abdon Burf, the highest of the twin summits of Brown Clee, although the other one, Clee Burf, is only 30 metres less. What does burf mean? The evidence of the hill's industrial past is everywhere to be seen on the top with the remains of the dhustone mine buildings including one where only the fireplace is left standing. The ruins are juxtaposed against the radio masts which now dominate the hilltop, with the distinctive sight and sound of redstart everywhere.

One of Brown Clee's claims to fame is the astonishing fact that looking due east, there is nothing higher until you get to the Urals in Russia. a difficult one to believe, and the cyclist who we met at the trig point didn't believe it either and vowed to check it when he got home. It was now 1.30pm and we had gone just over 5km.

Just beyond the summit the path became very muddy.

We had read about the bog on Brown Clee and now we'd found it. It didn't seem to bother the ponies though, a group of five were grazing close to Abdon Burf, and we found more near Clee Burf - a group of eight, seven brown and one grey. The path had skirted around Clee Burf but we decided to detour to the top where there are more old industrial buildings and clear evidence of the mine workings, as well as a radar installation that is linked to the ones on top of nearby Titterstone Clee.

The view to the west had been terrific up till now but suddenly it was clear that rain or something worse was on its way. We jogged down the hill to Nordy Bank, a great example of a hillfort, and then the white stuff appeared. It might have been hail or sleet but it was certainly sharp and wet, but no sooner had we got waterproofs on, than it passed over. 

Once at the foot of the hill, we found the footpaths leading across the fields without too much difficulty and returned to Abdon, completing around 10km in a very leisurely time. Great walk though and we will be back to Titterstone Clee at some point.