Forty Two - Shropshire - Brown Clee Hill (540m)

Walk to highest point takes 

us along the Shropshire Way

After a bit of a break, our first "County Top" for a few months, and the first of 2019. At 540 metres, Brown Clee Hill is the highest of the Shropshire Clee Hills. We were staying in Ludlow, and having taken advantage of all the lovely food on offer (esp. the French Pantry the night before) we needed some exercise.

Misty start to the walk. Unable to see 

the tops of the Clee Hills ahead.

We set off from Abdon  village and eventually made it onto Clee Liberty Common despite taking a slightly wrong turn and getting chased down the road by some truly vicious farm dogs.  We followed the old quarry road up to Nordy Bank, the only one of three iron age  hill  forts which remains. The fort has ramparts up to 3 m high and you can still climb up them and pretend to be an iron age guardsman. At this point the mist was beginning to burn off and we could see the horseshoe of our walk open up before us.

Inquisitive lambs

Further up are several  telecommunications masts due to the hills' height relative to the rest of the area. The Clee Hills are reportedly the highest land mass going east until the Urals, and during World War II twenty three German and Allied airmen were killed in numerous separate incidents when their planes crashed into it, and we walked past a memorial to the dead on our way to the summit.

Transmitter above the old quarry workings. 

Highest point now just visible in the distance

Brown Clee Hill was the site of more WW2 

aircraft crashes than any other hill in the UK

A topograph has been erected at the top engraved with a  few lines of poetry by AE Housman. I think they're probably from A Shropshire Lad. This seemed like an excellent spot for lunch, after which we began our descent round and down back to Abdon.

Close-up of topograph confirming the height

 at 540m, the highest point in Shropshire

Dual transmitters and topograph pillar on 

top of Brown Clee Hill

Looking west - the mist starts to clear, but the 

Stiperstones and Long Myndd still not visible

As we'd made good time there was still enough daylight for a drive across to the very welcoming Stiperstones Inn and a quick circuit of the Stones themselves and the Devil's Chair.