The Stiperstones
Roger Butler heads off to The Bog and explores a series of rocky outcrops in the heart of Shropshire’s secret hills.
The first time I walked over the Stiperstones I thought I’d taken a wrong turn, daydreamed down the M5 and parked up somewhere near Dartmoor. And I assumed I was still half-asleep when road signs pointed towards an isolated hamlet called The Bog. This five-mile Shropshire ridge, part of which is a National Nature Reserve, is capped by a series of quartzite outcrops which, from a distance, look just like some of those high granite tors in the West Country. The jagged rocks offer interesting little scrambles and are a marked contrast to the flowing contours of the nearby Long Mynd.
They also provide the backdrop to a host of local legends: a ghostly Saxon warrior called Wild Edric, and the spiky crag known as the Devil’s Chair. When the mist is down they say the devil is on his throne, but when the skies are clear the panoramas extend deep into Wales. Those views have got better in recent years, following a major project to remove patches of forestry, and new heather moorland now stretches south to Nipstone Rock and Black Rhadley Hill. Deep dingles cut into the western flanks, ancient hollies cling to the windswept slopes and the scattered remains of old lead mining activity might turn you into a budding industrial archaeologist. You can find out more once you’ve returned to The Bog, where the old school is now an excellent community-run visitor centre.