We all have different reasons for being in the LDWA but my main joy is to travel to less well known walking regions (i.e. NOT the Lake District!) and be taken round some interesting and scenic areas on a route I would never dream of doing myself. Hence I do six or seven challenge walks a year, of which usually 2 are in Shropshire.

Its just too far away to do in a day, unless you live in north Oxfordshire, so the cost of accommodation has become one of the biggest problems for challenge walks, and this means you can’t do it too often. But you can do it in a one nighter, no problem. The relief is about right for a 26 or so mile walk, for me at least, with typically 3500-4500 ft ascent, so it is a step up from the Chilterns, but you do as a result get some great views.

Marches LDWA are the direct opposite of Thames Valley as they typically do only one social walk a month but they do four challenge walks a year. Unlike most other groups, these are all in different seasons and at different locations across Shropshire. Individual challenge walks also often rotate location and route, so I’ve never done the same route twice. My favourite has been the circa 26-28mile Shropshire Circular in February, which this year was unusually in the southeast of the country (pictured)- again a great walk, but notably muddier than the more frequently used southwest parts of the country such as the Longmynd and Stipperstones.

Mention should also be made of the Six Shropshire Summits walk, which is 38 miles and 7000ft ascent, which is run by the fire service. This is more basically catered, using a bus to enable a near complete crossing of the county. When I did it, I found the participants to all be much younger than me, though somewhat naïve, some even without maps. I was left in near to last position after the first hill but struggled to the end to happily find that I was 13^th out of 45 entries : most had got lost or withdrawn!.

So give it a try sometime, but you have to plan ahead : these walks typically fill within a week of opening! See Marches LDWA - Future Events

Duncan Macgregor