THE LAST LEG
IT WAS most intriguing. Five young women and one man were sitting around a table outside The Malt House in Ironbridge, Shropshire, socialising in the evening sunshine. What might be their connection? “Maybe it’s an office party,” suggested my walking companion Peter Gibbs as we sat inside by a window, awaiting the arrival of our supper.
We were staying the night before setting out on the final eight-day stage of our 280-mile new Macmillan Way walk across Britain from Boston, close to the North Sea in Lincolnshire, to Barmouth on the Irish Sea in North Wales.
Still fresh in our memories were adventures in Staffordshire like the lunchtime we stopped to picture the alpine-roofed war memorial in the churchyard at Walton-on-trent just as Stuart Franklin came walking past and told us he’d helped his dad repair it when he was a lad.
And the afternoon we got lost on Cannock Chase only to come across local Kevin Read who was spending the day meditating beside his tent with his three terriers, and was able to point out the correct way.
But now ahead lay eight glorious days of walking, first to Wenlock Edge, whose Olympian Games dating back to 1850 are a forerunner of the Olympics and then on to attractive Church Stretton before crossing the Shropshire Hills to descend into Wales, near Welshpool and so beyond into the Snowdonia National Park.
But, back to that intriguing little group. We’re both former journalists so eventually our curiosity got the better of us.
Peter went over to discover that they were all teachers at the Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge Primary School, and were celebrating the end of term.
It wasn’t just the countryside we enjoyed on these long distance walks but the people we met along the way, we agreed, as we set out at 6am the following morning because this was to be a long 20-mile day.
On such occasions we take our breakfast with us so later we stopped in a sunny corner of a field for orange juice, croissants, bananas and coffee.
By lunchtime we’d walked all along the wooded Wenlock Edge escarpment and were entering the small village of Longville in the Dale where there was a pub for a pint but alas, as is so often the case, it had closed.
“You can join us for a drink if you like,” invited Mark Taylor who was sitting close by in his garden with his four sons and two friends. Pint glasses of lemonade and a variety of crisps were quickly produced and we spent a happy hour eating our sandwiches and learning a little about their lives.
Spontaneous acts of kindness have often enriched our walking experience and others were in store further along the way.
We stayed overnight in Church Stretton, which had ■ THE relevant OS Landranger maps are essential for this walk, as is the Macmillan Way Association’s Cross Britain Way guidebook and accommodation list.
■ On this leg, Nigel Heath and Peter Gibbs stayed at The Shoulder of Mutton, Barton under Needwood (01283 716716); Marsh Farm, Abbots the air of an alpine resort about it, before setting out on a long but scenic day’s walk over Shropshire’s famous Long Mynd hills and then the Stiperstones plateaux with its spectacular rock formations.
It was around 7pm when we walked wearily into the small village Bromley (01283 840323); Mercure Stafford South Hatherton House Hotel (01785 712459); Anvil Lodge, Shifnal (01952 460125); Royal Oak, Welshpool (01938 552217); Pentre, Pontrobert (01691 648348); The Hideaway, Llanwddyn (01691 870217); Plas Coch, Bala (01678 520309) and The Royal Ship Hotel, Dolgellau (01341 422209).