I have never visited Ironbridge, one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. So when I spotted this 50 mile walk around the area I was intrigued. There is a good website telling you everything you need to know with downloadable maps and descriptions. Being old fashioned I like to have a printed copy so a couple of years ago sent off for the guide. This gives a better insight to the industrial heritage and the natural environment along the trail.

For all sorts of reasons I’ve not got away for awhile and this was high on my list of trails to explore. There are others on the backburner. The last month has been hectic with a cataract operation and a plethora of other hospital visits, but I find myself with a week free of appointments. A session on a well known website and I have managed to book accommodation for the trip. It was not easy with demand being high in the holiday season, as you will see I have taken individual variations on the sections of the walk to fit in with accommodation vacancies. One could walk all the trail sections based in Telford centre, using buses each day, but that is a faff, and I like to sample the different lodgings as they come along. 

The train service to the area seems good and I have booked the journey, again being old fashioned I have the actual paper tickets to hand. 

A problem arose with finding my cat, Seth, a holiday home whilst I’m away. His usual cattery is having a show down with DEFRA over the size of their feline pens, a couple of centimetres short, and are closed. Seth has never complained in the past. I tried another cattery and they were full for the whole of summer. The third on my list has space for him thankfully, otherwise the trip would have been off, friends who in the past have looked after him at home are no longer with us. 

***

“The Telford T50 50 Mile Trail was created to celebrate the new town’s 50th anniversary in 2018. The trail was designed to showcase the many beautiful green spaces, interesting places and industrial heritage”  

This is the route in outline –

–

The trail is apparently waymarked but in urban areas the discs have a habit of disappearing. We shall see.

***

Time to get the small backpack out, dubbin the boots and create a new category on this webpage, Telford T50. As it is only 5 or 6 days I shall be traveling light with just the clothes I am wearing. 

“a delightful ramble through the town, woods, local nature reserves and across open spaces”

The best breakfast of the trip set me up for the day.

A well marked route, often shared with the Shropshire Way, takes me through Wellington centre, where I duck down Ten Tree Croft, where cloth was hung in the C18th (tenter) and eventually into Dothill nature reserve. There are extensive woodlands and two lakes. It is dog walking territory. Some of the trees have identification plaques, and it turns out there are 50 of these. I don’t think I can recognise 50 trees. I do a loop around the second lake before another housing estate. Wouldn’t it be good to have the time to follow the whole 50 tree trail.

The path leading to Apley is hemmed in by the dreaded developer’s fencing;. “It was all green fields last year,” a passing couple tell me.

Entering the grounds of the former Apley Hall, one immediately notices the variety of trees that must have been planted in the estate’s heyday. The pool is closed to fishing  due to an infestation with blue-green algae. Several other pools passed this week are in a similar situation.

One of the reasons to complete this northern loop was to see the famous Yew Avenue. I will soon turn down into it for a wonderful view. I don’t know it’s age, but halfway down is one very old yew. 

I join the Silkin Way, for the last time, a lovely avenue of limes, and some juicy blackberries..

I almost catch a bus back from near here but persist with the convoluted route through housing estates into the centre of Wellington, with a view up to the Ercall and Wrekin at the end. . 

***

***

I have time to spare so go in search of that little middle-eastern café, Dina. I enjoy a bowl of lentil soup and a delicious falafel/salad wrap for the princely sum of £4.  To top it off I go next door to ‘Spoons’, The William Withering, for a £1.79 pint of Ruddles.  Luxury.

***

Well that has been a great mini trip. Good to get away for the first time this year. The Telford T50 is a well thought out trail, obviously devised by locals who know the area and the best bits. The guide book is excellent for background information and precise navigation. Waymarking was excellent. There were more ups and downs than I expected. I did about 7,000 ft in the 48 miles I actually walked.

All the joined up green spaces in the vicinity of Telford make the walk feel rural for 90% of the time. Passing through one doesn’t catch much of the wild life that must be thriving here. A  good blueprint for new towns, we should have more of them rather than the haphazard new developments plaguing our rural areas.   

As for history this trail has so much, almost too much, industrial heritage. Everywhere there are detailed information boards to explain that history. And if you have taken to the area, as I was, there so many  other interesting trails to discover.

“it is a highlight well worth the climb”

I can almost see The Wrekin from my bedroom window but there is a tree in the way. I’ve been able to see its sharp profile from most of this week’s walk, now all I have to do is climb up it. The T50 goes below it with an option to backtrack up to the summit and then reverse the last section – a strange way of doing it. I plan to walk to the far end and then climb up and over with no messing about.

The first mile or so, on a little lane, is all downhill, not the best of starts. The day is more pleasant than of late with a refreshing breeze. Along the way The Wrekin is visible with its nobbly bits obvious.

I pass the junction where The T50 goes off and walk on, hoping there is a right of way along my planned route. I arrive at the  forest drive and find there is a permissive way. Not by the scout camp but close to it. The estate’s map, which shows the permissive paths clearly. is upside down, which is strange.

The climbing begins gradually and then levels out going from deciduous to fir trees. There are distant views south with the shapely Caer Caradoc prominent.

I join the Shropshire Way to go steeply up the western nose of the hill. It is steep and slippery, but I just plod on. The secret is not to get out of breath. A little zigzagging helps. Runners pass me easily, but there are no others coming this way.

First, you reach a volcanic rocky outcrop, where you can pretend you are on Striding  Edge for a while.

A good spot to sit and take in the views south to the other Shropshire hills and distant Wales. Down below to the east is Telford and its satellite villages where I’ve been walking for the last few days. I’m glad I stopped here for the views rather than up at the top, as you shall see.

Up ahead I can see lots of people at the summit trigpoint, 407m, mainly taking selfies of their achievement. I arrive to find one man leaning on the trig point, talking loudly to his wife on his mobile when others wanted to reach the trig, especially as the base is a work of art. He carries on for over 10 mins, oblivious to anyone else. There is also toposcope to identify distant hills etc, but it is being trampled all over by a trio taking pictures, no doubt to share on Instagram. A right circus, or perhaps I’m being petty. What else do you expect on a popular hill in the summer holidays? I make a quick exit as hordes more are arriving.

 

There is a board explaining the hillfort up here, but as usual for me, I fail to make out much on the ground. Could this be a hut circle?

In my rush to get off I didn’t thread the needle’s eye. The way up for most has actually been concreted at some time, a final degradation of a hill, they are wrecking the Wrekin.

In the woods, lower down peace returns. I stop and sit for a while and admire the beech trees.

Lower still is the Halfway House, a café where I enjoy a coffee in their garden. A nice surprise. I don’t know where everyone parks their cars but is it really halfway? I am told the café has just been taken over by a charity helping ex-offenders, Yellow Ribbon, well done.

Thankfully, the T50 takes a different route to most, and I don’t see anyone else for a long time. What a beautiful stretch of mature forest. Even a fallen tree is showing signs of life again.

A short stretch around a reservoir, and I come onto a minor road. Just as I am about to dive back into the woods, I spot up ahead a hotel serving coffee. I go one better than that and enjoy a well presented serving of tuna and cucumber sandwiches, all in the luxury of their lounge bar. My downloaded map tells me I’m off course!

Back on course, I enter Ercall Woods. An old quarry is seen high up with volcanic overlaid with sedimentary rock, dating from when animal life had begun to change to a having a skeleton, 500 million years ago. 

Beautiful beech trees give way to sessile oak higher up.

I am not sure which little path goes where, but I reach the fence overlooking that quarry, and that is as high as you can get, The Ercall, 265m. What a contrast to the Wrekin seen across the way.

Coming down I just wander at will, enjoying the peace and quiet, especially after my Wrekin experience. The greenery continues almost into Wellington down below. I’m jolted back to reality by the sound of the motorway, which I duck under.

I come out on Holyhead Road, Watling Street, not far from my B&B, but there across the road is the Wickets public house, time for a refreshing pale ale to replace all that sweat.

My lodgings are reassuringly old fashioned. A shared bathroom down the corridor, mix and match furniture, and electric extension cables all over the floor, all looked after by a delightful lady in her latter years. When did you last have a chocolate marshmallow or chocolate finger?

In the morning I will walk the north Wellington loop before catching the train home.

***

“bear right for paradise”

A day and a half! Lots of walking and lots of sightseeing in the gorge, the ‘raison d’être’ for this trip.

The day starts with a climb up from the river into Lloyd’s Coppice woods. A clear path winds its way through the trees high above the valley. At one time these hills were used for timber and coal mining for the nearby furnaces but all is peace and quiet, a perfect start to the day. And then the steps appeared, climbing higher up Blists Hill. No sooner up than I am going down, Old King Cole style.

Somehow I go round in circles for a while down at the entrance to Blists Hill Museum, a working village. The museums in the gorge can all be accessed by a rather expensive yearly ticket, maybe good value for  regulars, but of no interest to me just passing though. I will have to be content with the the free bits.

I can see the old railway below me but can’t find a way out of the car park to reach it. Once I read the guide more carefully I’m on my way. I’m back on the Silkin Way, the disused L&NW Railway line which has come down from Telford the easy way. All I have to is walk into Coalport. I pass under Hay Inclined Plane designed to lift boats from the canal below. It is under scaffolding here but more of it later.

The buildings by the canal, including a YHA, are part of the Coalport China factory, now a museum. The brick kilns are remarkably well preserved, I suspect rebuilt in more modern times, Under a bridge can be seen the end of the inclined plane. High above it connected to the Shropshire canal built in 1790, coal could be transported from the pits to here and then down the incline to the china works canal. Finished wares then shipped down the River Severn close by. The ingenuity of the first industrialists. In 1861 the London and North Western Railway arrived and the canals ceased to function. In the mid C20th china manufacture was moved to Staffordshire.

I cross the River Severn on the Jackfield and Coalport Memorial Bridge, a WWI memorial, arriving on the doorstep of The Boat Inn, with the heights of flooding marked on the door.

Going alongside a massive wall, Maws Works, I read that from 1883 -1970 it was the largest tile factory in the world. Local clay proved ideal for encaustic tiles, those decorated ones found in Victorian houses, pubs and churches. Now what is left is a craft centre and apartments.

I pass the Half Moon pub, there seem to be a lot of pubs in the gorge. Those workers had quite a thirst, and now sufficient tourists must keep them open. A bit of rarely trampled greenery by the river and then I’m in Jackfield.

The next major attraction here is The Ironbridge Gorge Tile Museum. I do poke my nose into the Peacock Café of this place and end up with coffee and cake. A lady with her dog is sat on the adjacent table, I complement her dog, always a good conversation starter. She is biding time whilst her daughter and husband paint tiles in the museum (dogs not allowed), and they will be fired and sent on in due course.

A short walk along another old railway, a branch of the Great Western, and I pass the home of Jackfield Brass Band in the old Coalford Wesleyan Chapel. 1825. It would be good to hear them playing in the gorge on a sunny Summer’s day.

At last I arrive at the Ironbridge Toll House, not looking good under scaffolding. Inside is a little museum telling the story of the bridge. The first cast iron bridge in the world, built in some ways to highlight the progress of the iron industry of the area. It was designed by an architect T F Pritchard, enthusiastically funded by ‘Ironmaster’ John Wilkinson, and built by the Quaker Abraham Darby. It was completed in 1779 and opened in 1781,replacing a ferry across the Severn. Closed to traffic in 1934 and freed from tolls in 1950, the price hadn’t changed from 1781- a halfpenny or a pedestrian.

It best viewed from the riverside.

All along here are cafes and tourist shops, and yet more pubs. There are some smart cottages and houses, again with well tended gardens.

By the road side are Limekilns used when there was a large amount of limestone quarried on Lincoln Hill above. There is the usual informative board that I have come to expect on these trails.

The museum near here has no exhibitions any more because of repeated severe flooding, sign of the times. Down the road the co-op is housed in an old warehouse, as is a smart gallery.

Across the way is a steep lane, Paradise, climbing out of the gorge. Soon, I’m back in the woods and a few hundred steps up to The Rotunda. This was originally a covered viewing platform with a revolving seat for the gentry to look down upon all their industries. All that is left is the platform base, and trees are robbing the views.

In my header photo taken from up here you can just make out the Ironbridge in the woods by the Severn, Here’s a zoom to it.

The woods following have lots of tracks – ‘Sabbath Walks’ devised by C19th industrials to provide leisure for the workers on a Sunday and keep them out of all those pubs.

Bearing left, as I usually do, I never achieve Paradise.

Soon I’m dropping down into Coalbrookdale.

Here there is a large historic iron industry complex, The Museum of Iron. I’m not sure what is on display in the Museum but I head straight to the café for a pot of tea, it has been a muggy day down in the gorge. You probably need a tea or something stronger if you have read this far with me.

In the  grounds are the remains of an early furnace and the attendant infrastructure, including the waterwheel building and the upper pool, which fed it.

Through the many arched viaduct, the Great Western Railway, that ran until 2017. Above are houses on the hillside habited by the Darby families. Dale House, built in 1717, and Rosehill House, built in 1738. They have been restored in the style of the period but close at three. The workers’ cottages are higher still. I meet the dog lady again, with her family, and the tiles painted look impressive.

The day is slipping away and I have four more miles to go. That is the last of the museums and I’m heading into more open countryside. Back down the hill I go through a little arch into a different land. Loamhole Dingle is a delight of shady paths alongside a sluggish stream.

I escape up steps and follow a lane into Lydebrook Dingle which gives more of the same before steps climb out into fields.

I realise I’ve hardly seen any livestock on this walk – until now. 

Some of the fields are massive – this machine is a modern type of hoe.

I’m quite high up but the distant hills are in haze, although The Wrekin is getting closer. I follow the Shropshire Way into the small village. The Huntsman is all a walker needs, at a price.

I feel miles from Telford, another world. Tomorrow there shouldn’t be any historical industrial incidents to slow us up, I promise.

***

“Madeley Court Hotel… is open to non-residents and there is a pleasant lakeside bar”

Late morning and I’m doing a diversion to see the C17th Madeley Court. It is surrounded by pools.  I’m hoping to get a morning coffee as it is now a hotel and it is now  coffee time.. But something is strange. There is a heavy presence of burly security men all around and at the entrances. No way are they letting me pass, and they are not for telling me why. “No photographs sir”.  Conspiracy theories go through my brain, but I’m most disappointed about missing that coffee.

Earlier I had made my way past the shopping mecca, all 25 acres of it, at heart of Telford,

Suddenly, I’m in the Town Park, all 370 acres of it. There seems to be something for everyone in here. Fairground, zoo, paddling pools, climbing wall, lakes, all sorts of playgrounds, cycle hire, and trails going in every direction. The Telford T50 officially starts by the old chapel, which is strangely in the centre of a kiddies play area.  There is the usual map and info, but the first section of the way is closed off for repairs. Not a good start.

I take a nearby road, which soon becomes the T50 with the now familiar waymarks. Families are out for walks, and a few cyclists come by. Along this stretch, I divert to have a look at the 209ft high Stirchley chimney, a remnant of the iron works started in 1790. The whole area was rich in Ironstone, wood, and then coal, limestone, and clay. Can you imagine the activity and pollution back in the heday of industrial production.

Soon, the waymarks suggest I’m following the Silkin Way, here an old railway, originally a tramway. It goes all the way to Ironbridge directly, but T50 will take in convoluted paths through several nature reserves.

The Dawley and Stirchley station platform has been preserved. Trains last ran in 1952. The ‘line’ goes under an aqueduct, which brought water to the Coalport branch of the Shropshire Canal, which predated the railway.

Along this stretch, I meet a couple in their eighties out for a 15-mile stroll. They regularly do twice that amount, amazing. In contrast, a man on a mobility scooter stops to chat. I notice he is on oxygen. It turns out he has asbestosis, that cruel industrial disease. But getting out as much as he can. All very humbling.

Now, out of the Town Park, I leave the Silkin Way at an old windmill to head down to Madeley Court.

After the missing coffee a few intricate paths through flowering meadows, just follow the waymarks, land me in a confusing housing estate, turn on the app. Once extricated, I come across the Dawley Pools, supplying water for the canal in the past. A couple of anglers are just setting up for the day.

I pass more pools, which are overgrown but must be a haven for wildlife. I stroll on through the maze of trees. There are few ancient trees as they were cut down in the industrial era. Mostly, they just regenerated naturally after the pits and furnaces were abandoned. Though new trees have been planted on some of the contaminated brownfield sites.

After crossing a disused railway, there is a newly surfaced path through Rough Park. Alongside bordering a stream, I notice a gate leading to a community willow plantation. Different varieties are being  grown, and there are some willow arches. It would be good to be part of that community.

The first uphill of the day and a series of those dreaded steps lead up into a more open area of Rough Park looking north. A bench provides a suitable lunch spot. Dog walkers appear from all directions, all very friendly and proud of their woodland walks. Buzzards are soring overhead.

Housing that I navigate through next shows little architectural imagination. More housing is destroying a wooded area. I see notices up asking people to object to overdevelopment of their green spaces. I think it is too late.

Further on, I walk through a smaller nature reserve maintained by the community. Let’s hope the land is safe. Another small nature reserve follows now looking out over the wooded Coalbrook Dale, 500ft below, the Wrekin pops up its head as usual.

All of a sudden, I’m in the  little lanes above Ironbridge. Workers’ cottages, some a few centuries old, display some lovely cottage garden flowers.

One cottage squeezed into a junction is delightfully named The Wedge of Cheese.

A plaque on an other records the birthplace of Billy Wright, the famous footballer from the fifties, if you remember.

Across the road was the old pub where the nine Madeley miners bodies were taken to after the mine shaft disaster of 1864.

Off route I find a steep stairway dropping all the way down to the Severn, Wisteria archways and little wild spaces add to its charm.

This brings me out right next to the remains of the Bedlam Furnaces which I wanted to see. All that remains are the rear walls and foundations of the engine house, bellows house and one of the furnaces. All is covered by a big tent and the casting area where pig iron would have been run into sand moulds would have been in the car park. Most people drive by without a look.

You’re familiar with the word ‘bedlam’, a chaotic scene. The word emerged as a nickname for the early asylum, The Bethlem Hospital, established in London way back in the C15th. The scene in the early C19th painting below hints at the conditions in the valley in those days.

I walk alongside the River Severn to reach my comfortable abode for the night, ‘Ye Olde Robin Hood Inn’. 

It’s been a long day with lots of history below my feet. I am ready for a pint of Holden’s Black Country beer, brewed in Dudley.

***

 

 

“the ruined medieval Lilleshall Abbey is some distance from the trail – best left for another occasion”

It takes 10mins to walk to Telford central station to catch a bus to Lilleshall. The crossing of the road and the rails in the futuristic bridge is dramatic. The buses are running half an hour late, and it is Lille-shawl not Lilles-hall! The bus goes around the houses, and one  begins to realise the size of this not-so-new town. I just looked it up, and the population is 190,000 almost the size of Preston. I have not started from where I finished yesterday, it all looked a bit too built up and I’m not a slave to the guide. (Probably means I’m walking the Telford T45)

My Bus app tells me when to get off, right outside of the church in Lilleshall. I have a look inside, although it dates from Medieval times, most is Victorian.

I plod up the lanes where there are some prime properties in a prime situation. A lady asks me about my walk and then tells me of some Abbey ruins not to be missed only a mile or so away. I half take it in, as often people underestimate walking distances. I’m more concerned at the moment with climbing the hill to see the view and the Duke of Sutherland monument.

Up to now, it has remained hidden despite being on of Shropshire’s landmarks. The views improve as I climb, and a board tells me what I am looking at. The Wrekin is the stand-out feature and I hope to climb it later in the week. But other Shropshire hills are in view as well as distant Wales. Years ago, I completed a round of the Shropshire tops with my old mate, Mel. I shall have to revisit my diaries to check what we did. That was when we did 20 + miles a day, and now I am happy if I get up to 20 kilometres.

The Duke of Sutherland is a controversial figure, hated in Scotland for his cruel Highland clearances. Yet here in the Midlands, he seems to have been a good landlord and philanthropic manager. I seem to remember climbing to a monument to him just outside Stoke. His monument here is certainly impressive and dominates the area from the 132m hill.

I am soon back in the village, and there in  front of me is a footpath heading towards Lilleshall Abbey, which I’ve checked on the OS map, maybe a mile away. Decision made I climb the stile.

Once away from waymarked, named trails, the state of public footpaths may vary. The next mile emphasised this. Not many come this way. The paths take erratic ways across the open fields, needing careful navigation ( that means using my phone to keep me right) Then, I’m faced with a field of corn through which no one has ventured this season. I walk  around the edge and escape onto the road. This is how public rights of way are lost,  I’m not being a hero today.

The Abbey is just off the road, modestly signed. But wow, what a place it turns out to be.  I marvel at its size and some of the intricate carved sandstone. The surviving abbey buildings almost all date from the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

The English Heritage web site gives a potted history – https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/lilleshall-abbey/History/

After wandering around I find a seat for a break and snack, I’m glad I came.

Back along the road to pick up the T50 as it crosses fields towards housing at Muxton, on past the impressive golf course, and then into Granville Country Park.

This area was the centre for a thriving iron production industry as well as extensive coal mines. In 1764, the Granville family set up a company to develop the mineral resources on their land. This became the Lilleshall Company in the early C19th. A canal was constructed as well as rail lines eventually to facilitate the transport of materials. Some of the earliest blast furnaces in the country were constructed.

All is now disappearing under vegetation. The coal mines closed in 1979, and the land reclaimed. I spot bits of industrial heritage. The canal basin is remarkably intact, and some of the massive furnaces are still visible.

There are interpretation boards everywhere so here is a concise guide to Iron making to get you up to speed.

It is pleasant wandering through the woods with good waymarking on the myriad of paths. The birds are heard but not seen and there is prolific plant colonisation of the waste land. I just wish there were more insects about.

There are quite a lot of steps encountered which seems to becoming the norm for this trail,  the whole area undulating because of former mining operations.  One flight of steps takes me to “The top of the world.” Old spoil heaps giving more great views over Shropshire with The Wrekin as prominent as ever.

Housing developments are creeping in everywhere. The open countryside and views disappear behind high fencing.

I’m getting ready for a break and some lunch when on the corner appears a pub, the New Cottage, . It is in the process of being modernised, probably not for the better. It doesn’t look inviting but a drinks a drink. I sit outside with a pint of Sharp’s Atlantic Pale Ale, all the way from Cornwall, and eat my sandwich.

A few streets, and I’m going around the water of Priorslee Lake (The Flash), a pleasant interlude with people  picnicking and fishing. All this minutes away from busy roads and housing, the essence of new town planning. There was talk of building more new towns to solve our ‘housing crisis’ rather than the haphazard development occurring on edges of our towns and villages.

The route takes me through the older part of Priorslee village with cottages originally built for the iron workers and the odd house for the bosses.

Pedestrian alleys take me over roads and railway back to the centre of Telford. The road I was hoping to use was closed so I braved a dual carriage way for a time.

Quite a long day in the heat. I’m moving on tomorrow, down to Ironbridge. 

“the former opencast pits have only recently been restored to green fields”

A long day. Half the day is spent getting here. My bus ride before 7am into Preston was interesting.  No delays as it is school holidays and for a change there were no roadworks. At one stop, I witnessed a simple fraud carried out by a couple of lads. The first gets on the bus, buys a ticket, and promptly out of sight of the driver throws it out of an open window  for his mate to board the bus with! Would never have thought of that. Of course, it won’t work if an inspector appears, but when did you last see one of those.

Preston is not joined up transport wise. It is a 15min walk to the rail station from the bus station, but I try to factor that into my planning and have time for a coffee. Usually works. Change at Crewe. “Oh, Mr. Porter, what am I going to do?” always springs to mind. Another change at Shrewsbury, and I’m on a Welsh speaking train. It’s only one stop to Wellington where there is a distinct Midlands’ accent as soon as you step out of the station.

I immediately take the wrong turning and am lost, it is easily done in towns. It’s best to rethink and slow down, I head back into the centre and into a little Eastern café for a coffee, a bargain these days for £1. The food looked and smelt good. I may try it when I’m back here in a few days on my circular route.

Refreshed, I find my way across town, whose Medieval buildings will have to wait until I’m back. I do however pass the site of a former Chad Valley Toys building, I remember those. A little further and there is a blue plaque to the painter Cecil Lawson – I had to look him up.

At last I’m on Limekiln Lane, which gives a clue as to past industries hereabouts. Limestone was mined and quarried in the 18th and 19th centuries and used as a flux in early iron making. I’m probably following the old tramway taking lime and stone to Wellington, situated on the important Watling Street.

At some stage before going under the motorway, my first Telford T50 roundel appears, I have probably missed some in town. These red, or are they pink or purple, waymarks thankfully become a regular guide to the walk.

I find  that within the first few pages of a written guide, one either likes and trusts the writer’s style or one resorts to the map and intuition. So far, it’s early days, but Anne Suffolk seems to be on the mark in both general information and directions. The maps in the guide are too small a scale to be useful for serious navigation, but they give a general idea of the route. I have downloaded the route map onto my OS app on my phone for when I’m lost. This is the first time I’ve employed this system, I’m slowly getting up to speed with modern technology. The app map hasn’t been needed in earnest yet.

This an easy lane to drive up and dump rubbish.

The limekilns would have been used to produce quicklime for mortar, lime wash, and soil fertility. Charcoal used first from the abundant woodlands and then coal from nearby provided the high heat necessary. Once into the woods I can I peer down into the tops of several kilns in amongst the trees, the brick work still clearly visible. It would have been interesting to see the kilns from below. There must be a track down there somewhere. The woods and open glades, being on limestone, are rich habitat for orchids in season, which, of course it isn’t, Yellow ragwort seems to be everywhere this year.

Onwards and forever upwards, I hadn’t read the contours. The next stretch is more open, and the site of old bell pits and shallow shafts for the coal seams lying close to the surface. Coal mining here continued even into this century, but all is greenery now. Some of the open cast areas can just be made out.

After getting on for two hours of steady climbing, I reach a minor road at New Works. ‘New’ relating to the the C18th Darby family development of the area for coal to supply their furnaces at Coalbrookdale. No doubt more of this later in the walk, there is so much historical information in the guide book, on the many interpretation boards I’ve already come across and on the internet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalbrookdale#Industrial_Revolution

Now there is only a collection of modern bungalows with good views over Shropshire and no doubt beyond. My route takes me on to the ‘Trundle’, not an expression I have come across relating to paths. Anyhow, a good wide surface takes me down through the woods to emerge onto the main road through Dawley/Lawley.

The new builds here appear well constructed and interesting architecturally. All these suburbs are part of Telford new town, which started in 1968 trying to preserve some of the green networks and industrial areas. The Telford T50 was designed to reflect these and was to commemorate the 50 years since the start of the works. There is a prominent Mormon Church here and I get all the local information I need from one of the many dog walkers. Until now I hadn’t met anybody on the trail.

As usual, a golf course appears on a long-distance walk, and this is where I go wrong for a while. Waymarks disappear, and I feel I’m trespassing, but with persistence, I emerge unscathed. It looks like a challenging course for the golfer as well as the walker.

I walk around peaceful Horsehay Lake, the pond for the iron furnaces and foundries. The lake remains, but the rest has mostly disappeared. What does remain, though, are the rows of workers’ cottages. Delightful Old,1750, and New,1830. I could live in one of those. 

And what is on the corner? A fish and chip shop. I can’t refuse the chance of a chippy lunch sitting looking over the lake. The ducks get my scraps.

The Telford Steam Railway looks a jumble, lots of work for the dedicated volunteers to get stuck into. I’m sure on a weekend when Steam is running it will be more exciting.

The way forward coincides with The Ironstone Way, there seem to be lots of well-used trails in the area. I’m supposed to be walking alongside Lawley Common, but new developments have taken over.  Many obviously, since the guidebook was published in 2019.

The speed at which we devour the countryside is frightening.

I find myself in Morrison’s  café for a cup of tea. Those chips were salty. I had thought of going on a few miles or so, but it looked like suburbia all the way, maybe I am wrong, but I’ve had enough, 7 miles this afternoon, and call it a day.I seek out the bus stop reputably adjacent to Morrison’s. There is a bus in 5 minutes, obviously nobody seems to know where from. Why would they, they have all driven here. As I get onto the main road, my bus goes sailing past to stop a couple  of hundred metres farther on, but too far for me to catch it.

Am I in Dawley or Lawley? I seek help from a lovely Indian man running a takeaway grill on the street. He phones for a taxi, and while waiting, we put the world to right. Should give his café a shout-out, but I didn’t get its name.

I was soon transported to my lodgings for the night, only two miles away – the Ramada in the centre of Telford.

A very comfy room and a deep bath. With eating those chips mid afternoon, I settle for a pint of Camden Town pale ale and some crisps in the bar.

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