PONTESBURY | Quarries & Woodland PONTESBURY | Quarries & Woodland PONTESBURY | Quarries & Woodland

Walking with Offa 1 GETTING THERE: You can find public transport options Walking Food, drink and throughout at: 1 accommodation www.travelshropshire.co.uk. with Offa Imagine patrolling Or contact Traveline on 08712 002233. the border without BY BUS: A regular bus service runs from to a decent pub. How Pontesbury (service no: 552/553). Pontesbury is served would Offa’s Dyke by the Long Mynd & Shuttle Bus which have been built Quarries and Woodland runs at weekends and Bank Holidays from April to without them? September. www.shropshirehillsshuttles.co.uk Over a thousand around Pontesbury years later, keep up BY CAR: Car parking is available at The Plough Inn, the tradition and Pontesbury SY5 0RJ. stop for a drink and a bite to eat To get the best from your walk we recommend at the Plough Inn, comfortable walking boots, waterproof jacket A moderate four and a half mile walk Pontesbury. and overtrousers, warm clothing, gloves and warm hat through woodlands and quiet or sun cream and sun hat (depending on the season!), a mobile phone and something to eat and drink. Sheep country lanes, with one steep climb. The Plough Inn is a lovely, Grade II listed, homely and cattle are often in the fields on these routes – dogs Allow two to three hours. 6 stiles. pub with real ales. must be kept under close control or on leads at all times. They also do live music on Saturday nights. Call Carol and Ian on 01743 792989 or contact Walking with Offa Promoting the Welsh English border them on Facebook: as a great place to get your boots on, enjoy the beautiful www.facebook.com/pages/The-plough-inn- countryside and indulge in some fabulous food and drink. For more details contact the Shropshire Hills Area w pontesbury g i t in h of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership on k O l

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f a W 01588 674080 Pontesbury has a number of other places to eat or see www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk and drink. Choose from pubs, the café, Chinese or Indian food or fish and chips. Many thanks to Alan Garner from for developing Hignetts bakery, butchers and shop also comes this walk. Photographs by Steven Levers. highly recommended. There are 18 pub walks in this series and four ‘Days Out’. Download, including podcasts, from www.shropshirewalking.co.uk/walking-with- Accommodation listings can be found on offa. Turn your Smartphone into a complete The Welsh English Border - outdoors GPS. Download an app: www. www.visitshropshirehills.co.uk viewranger.com and search for ‘Walking with where King Offa met his match! Offa’. A guide featuring twelve walks is available. One of a series of walks with spectacular views and glimpses of Shropshire Hills history, wildlife and archaeology. Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

This project has been supported by Advantage ’ Natural Assets Programme in partnership with Natural . in the Shropshire Hills Walking Quarries and Woodland A moderate 4.5 mile walk through woodlands and quiet with Offa 1 around Pontesbury country lanes, with one steep climb. Allow 2-3 hours

1 Start at The Plough Inn, Chapel Street then cross the path that meanders down to eventually reach the down this road for ½ mile until you pass Weavers stream via footbridge and turn left along Whitwell Lane. lowest point of a streambed (can be dry) and two small Cottages on left and arrive at a road junction. Bear Soon the tarmac ends and becomes a stone/dirt track. footbridges. Carry on to pass through a wooden kissing right up Top Road, passing Hawthorne Cottage Shortly after take the marked path on right across open gate, straight on across the field to join a partly immediately on the right to soon rejoin the earlier field. This joins a narrow path that goes through an arch concealed path into trees. This leads through a kissing route to retrace your steps home. onto road (note this point for your return journey). Turn gate and then on to Poles Coppice parking area. 8 Follow the road down passing the church left and follow road a short distance to fork and bear left 5 Turn right onto road and proceed downhill (beware and community room. When the road joins along ‘poorly maintained’ Top Road. Top road was the of traffic, this is a public highway). The road bends right Pontesbury Hill road, keep right and soon centre of a thriving community, built on quarrying, of and ignoring paths left head to the large metal gate on you reach Hawthorne Lodge, the house on Pontesbury Hill, with a couple of pubs, shops and many your right, which has a ‘Danger Keep Out’ sign the right with the arch. Pass through the arch interesting buildings. Continue on passing ‘1 Lower Hill’ (entrance to Callow Quarry), but it is a right of way. and gate into the field and down to the and on reaching the brow look for a finger post on the The broad track was the track bed of the lead kissing gate, turn left onto left. Turn left and follow the stone track as it leads you mines railway from mine to the SHREWSBURY the lane and soon you will past houses to a narrow grassy path. This descends railhead at Pontesbury. be back at the Plough Inn. through trees, then rises to follow the edge of the woods Go around or over the gate and follow to reach a wooden pedestrian gate and house. this track for ¼ mile, before it’s blocked 2 Bear left through gate and then straight on passing off, take the marked path on the right BAYSTON HILL house and continue on this track. This widens to join a going steeply uphill. Follow this path to a stone/dirt access track passing houses. Follow the track wide fork and bear right and up to a less right and bear sharp left round the fence boundary of defined path junction. Here turn right and PONTESBURY 1 the last house on the left to a metal gate and join the follow the now level path, keeping right bridleway. Soon the path bends to the right, keeping on to reach a fence. Keep right following building to your left follow it straight through the the fence on your left and on to join stone 8 track and up to a kissing gate into field. grassy stretch into woodland. Drop and keep to left 6 boundary and you will shortly reach a stile on the left. Continue straight on to join the right 2 Cross stile and take narrow path, which has a fence on hedge boundary and on to cross stile in the left, and leads to another metal gate into the corner of oncoming hedge. Turn left and, woods. This is Poles Coppice. keeping the woods to your right, follow 3 At this gate turn right following the permissive path the path down in the middle of the field which bends slightly left and up some steps. Continue and bear right and down to a gate and on to reach wooden bridge before coming out on footbridge. Go straight ahead up steps broad path (end of Pontesbury Hill road clearly seen on into woods and soon you will reach 3 right). Turn left and continue straight on the Bridleway T-junction of paths. At this point it is worth 6 7 until you reach another fork of paths. Take right taking a short detour right to explore the footpath that climbs and follow this as it bears right, abandoned quarry, which is carpeted with 4 steeply up hill, and on to reach wooden kissing gate at wildflowers in spring and summer. the top of Poles Coppice. 7 Turn left and follow well-defined track 4 Do not exit via the gate but continue on keeping to to reach wooden barrier at entrance to 5 the left boundary following the permissive woodland Poles Coppice and a tarmac road. Go left

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