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Linley Hill and Nipstone Rock

Difficulty Moderate

Walking time 2 hours 30 minutes

Length 8.3km / 5.2mi

Route developer: John Clift

Route checker: james vernon

Start location The Bog Visitor Centre Shopshire SY5 0NG
Route Summary Just south of the Stiperstones and 100 metres lower, Linley Hill offers fine views in almost all directions. On the return leg the route passes through the Nipstone Rock nature reserve, where wild heathland has been restored in recent years.
*move mouse over graph to see points on route
Getting there

By car: The Bog can be reached from the A488 road west of the Stiperstones. It is possible to approach through Snailbeach or through Shelve. To find the car park go past the Visitor Centre and turn left.

By public transport: The Long Mynd and Stiperstones Shuttle (service 280) calls at The Bog approximately hourly on summer weekends and bank holidays. You can catch the Shuttle at Church Stretton. Church Stretton rail station has trains on the line from Manchester to Cardiff via Shrewsbury and Hereford. 

Description

The area of this walk is less visited than the high points of the Stiperstones, which is a pity as the views, on a clear day, are excellent throughout the route. The paths are all adequate or better although in some places careful attention to the route instructions is needed to locate the next stile. 

[1] Take the road leading uphill towards the Stiperstones ridge. Just past the car park the road turns left but your route carries straight on following a signpost to the Viewpoint. You reach wooden steps up an artificial mound where there is an information board to help you visualise the layout of mining activities. From the bottom of the steps take a path at right angles to the way you came. You join a path coming up a hollow way and turn left through a kissing gate. Continue straight uphill to another kissing gate. Walk diagonally left to a gate leading onto a road.

Turn right and walk along the road to a junction where you turn left. After 100 metres turn right onto a footpath starting at a field gate with a footpath signpost. Head diagonally across the field towards a gateway two thirds of the way down the hedge on the left. The route here differs from that shown on the Ordnance Survey map. Do not go though the gateway but turn right to find a footpath gate in the hedge line. In the next field keep close to the right hand hedge to reach a stile. Go over and follow the left hand hedge to a stile in a field corner. This takes you into an area of rough ground where the path ahead should be clear, leading to an improvised footbridge over a small stream and then up slope to a stile at a field corner.

[2] You are now crossing a col in a low ridge. Take a track to the right that runs along the far side of the crest and then gradually descends towards a gateway. Do not go through but turn right and walk alongside the hedge to a stile in the corner of the field. Head diagonally across the next field to a gateway in the opposite corner. Go over a stile beside the gate. Follow a farm track to a minor road where you turn right.

After 200 metres go over a waymarked stile in the hedge on the left just past a house. Follow the garden edge round to the left to another stile. In the next field follow the hedge on your left until you reach a field gate. Go through the gate but do not follow the track leading from it. Instead turn right to continue in the direction you were walking previously, climbing up slope towards a stile in a fence line on the hillside. Linley Hill is arguably the best viewpoint on the route. You have the Stiperstones behind you and the Long Mynd to the left. To your right, across the valley of the Black Brook, you should see the ridge leading to the Rock, with Corndon Hill looming behind it. Possibly the distinctive outline of Cadair Idris will be visible on the horizon. There is no clear path to follow over Linley Hill so head for the highest point where you should get a clear view of the ground ahead. A prominent clump of trees should draw your eye. They diminish towards the west, no doubt an effect of the prevailing wind. There is a stile beside a gate just to the left of these trees. Go over it and follow a faint track alongside the fence on your left. A small earthwork on the crest of the hill to your right is thought to have been a Roman signal station.

[3] Eventually the track leads away from the fence towards a gate in a fence line ahead. Do not go through the gate but turn right and walk parallel to the fence. You start to descend as you pass a conifer plantation. Go through a gate and descend quite steeply to a gate in the far right corner of the field. The route here differs slightly from that shown on the Ordnance Survey map, but there is a Shropshire Way signpost beside the gate to confirm you are on the right track. You follow the Shropshire Way for most of the return leg.

Turn right and walk along the road, passing through the tiny settlement of Ridge. The road bends left and then right. On the right hand bend go over a stile on the left and diagonally right down slope to a footbridge. Climbing up the other side of the valley you head just to the right of houses to reach a stile. Go over, turn right onto a road and almost immediately left onto a track which leads to a gate. Continue climbing on a path over a bracken and gorse covered hillside.

[4] After passing beneath a rocky outcrop, typical of the Stiperstones, you reach a footpath junction. Following the Shropshire Way you take the right hand path, climbing up gradually over rocky ground. The path along the ridge is easy to follow. After passing through three gates you enter a stand of conifers at its right hand edge. Continue along the edge of the woodland to reach a stile with a field you walked through on the outward leg on the far side. The right of way goes straight ahead to a signpost and then turns sharp left to a kissing gate. Retrace your steps downhill to a second gate but here you carry straight on down the hollow way. With the car park in sight you turn right past a pool and down a final slope to reach your destination.

POI information

The Bog was the site of a lead mining complex which is known to have operated from 1739 to 1932. The Visitor Centre is housed in what was a school for the miners' children and is now one of the few surviving buildings. The Visitor Centre is staffed by volunteers and has displays relating the history of the site as well as offering light refreshments. There are toilets in the Visitor Centre.

The Nipstone Rock nature reserve is at the centre of the Back to Purple project of the Shropshire Wildlife Trust, which started in 2001. Conifer plantations dating from the 1960s were removed and the distinctive upland heath vegetation has regenerated. It is now clear to see that this area has the same geology as the higher parts of the Stiperstones ridge, with distinctive quartzite outcrops, the Nipstone Rock itself being a prominent example.

 

Notes No details available.
Acknowledgements No details available.
  • Linley Hill seen from the Knolls
    Linley Hill seen from the Knolls
    By - John Clift
  • Corndon Hill seen from Linley Hill
    Corndon Hill seen from Linley Hill
    By - John Clift
  • Descending Linley Hill
    Descending Linley Hill
    By - John Clift
  • Looking along the Stiperstones ridge
    Looking along the Stiperstones ridge
    By - John Clift
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