My first ever Father’s Day as a dad. Some might want to spend it with a lie-in and a nice family meal. Me? I spent mine lugging my daughter up a 533m Shropshire hill on a windy Sunday morning. I was treated to Mini Babybels and Melton Mowbray pork pies for lunch next to some derelict mines that stank of urine. It was great though. Honestly.
We'd walked the Titterstone Clee Hill circular.
About a week before, my wife Stace had asked me where I'd like to go for lunch on Father's Day. I told her I just wanted to go for a nice walk somewhere and have a picnic. I prefer to spend my precious weekends visiting different places and getting some fresh air, rather than sitting in busy restaurants. I often use the AllTrails app to find new places for us to go for family rambles. The circular route on Clee Hill seemed to be a decent one, with some great views and quirky landmarks. It's not THAT local though. From home in Herefordshire to the car park for the hill is about an hour. I knew I'd get a free pass for us to travel a bit further than normal on Father's Day, so suggested this walk as the one we should do.
From the car park (and after a bit of confusion about the route we had to take), we made our way to the summit. It’s a short but steep climb. The kind that makes you instantly aware of the extra weight you’re carrying. The summit is crowned by radar domes that make it look like the set of a sci-fi movie. The larger dome is part of the National Air Traffic Services radar network and monitors aircraft within a 100-mile radius. The smaller dome is part of the Met Office weather radar network. There is a trig point, which we headed to and got the highest point of the walk out of the way fairly quickly.
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| Car park to summit. A grueller |
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| The extra-terrestrial looking scenery |
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| National Air Traffic Services radar dome |
We'd taken a clockwise direction and hit the top of the hill almost immediately, rather than the suggested anti-clockwise route which ends with a brutal looking climb. With hindsight, I'd rather have gone with the short brutality at the end than the seemingly neverending uphill slog that would follow our descent from the summit. It definitely was a steep bank that we had to walk down though and it definitely wouldn't have been much fun going uphill.
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| Clee Hill summit (533m) |
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| Down the steep bank |
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| A rest |
At the bottom, we followed the route along unmarked paths through the boggy moorland, trying, and failing to avoid standing in sheep shite. It was a steady ascent in a 4 mile-ish loop, back around the other side of the hill via St Mary's Church in Cleeton St Mary. It had been breezy and a bit chilly on the summit of the hill, but at this lower level in the June sunshine, it was hard work. A hot, sweaty, trudge that we wanted to end as quickly as possible. We do a lot of walking and most of the routes I find end up being really good, but this circular walk felt like it had been created for the sake of it. It was pretty boring to be honest, but regardless it was some good exercise.
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| Boggy terrain and sheep poo |
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| St Mary's Church |
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| A long slog |
Eventually, we made our way round to the side of the hill our car was parked on. By this point, Molly had gone to sleep, so we decided just to have our picnic back up towards the summit of the hill rather than sitting in the sheep muck in the sodden fields below. I hadn't had a chance to get a proper look at the old coal/dolerite mines on the hill so while Molly was settled and having some food I could go for a bit of a mooch.
After a gruelling plod to the car park, we had a look at a little lake that people had annoyingly dumped a load of litter in, then found the mines. We ate lunch and then I took our nervous dog Wilf for a walk and a bit of exploring (he'd have gone nuts if I'd disappeared into the mines where he couldn't see me). After approaching one of the mine entrances, it became clear quite quickly that these structures were now primarily makeshift toilet facilities. It absolutely reeked of old wee. There was some interesting graffiti about though and it added character and interest to the hill, which has a rich industrial past shaped by centuries of mining and quarrying. It was once a hub for extracting dolerite, coal, and ironstone, with evidence of activity dating back to medieval times. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the landscape bustled with quarrymen, miners, and tramways transporting stone and ore. Today, the remnants of old engine houses and derelict buildings stand as reminders of this once-thriving industry.
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| Happy days with Molly |
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| Abandoned mines on Clee Hill |
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| Most of the derelict buildings are covered with graffiti. |
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| It didn't smell great in here |
After about 15 minutes of exploring the mines, I returned to my little family. We got Molly back in the carrier, went back to the car and made our way home.
My first Father’s Day. My daughter soon turning one. My back aching like I’d been hit by a small car. Despite the full circular walk seeming to be an unnecessary time killer, it was a great place to visit and I thoroughly enjoyed my time on Clee Hill. I didn't get a nice Sunday roast, but I'd always choose a picnic on a hill over a sit-down meal. Molly loved it and I loved it too.
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| Makes it all worthwhile |
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| Happy Father's Day |
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