My Shropshire Adventure

Yesterday on the way back from Keele University in Stafforshire, my Dad and I stopped for a few hours at the Long Mynd in Shropshire, next to the Welsh boarder.

It is one of the most beuatiful areas of England! The rolling hills, the running water and the fresh air!

We stopped at Cardingmill Valley, which Malcolm Saville had intended to be Hatchholt Valley in his books, The Lone Pine Adventures. Unfortunatlely, we missed the resivoir becuase we walked up the wrong gully. We did come across the waterfall, featured in Mystery at Witchend, which the Morton children climbed to reach the top of the Mynd, and Dickie got stuck in a bog. Thus leading to the Morton's first encounter and long friendship with Peter (Petronella) Sterling.

Anyway, it was a lovely walk up the valley and well worth the long car journey to see it! It would have been wonderful to see the Resivoir, but we didn't have time if we were going to beat the traffic home.

I'm totally planning to go again, hopefully next year when I can drive myself and hopefully take a friend with me to explore the Mynd properly, because you can't explore somewhere like The Long Mynd in a day!

It was the most beautiful place ever, and it's almost on our own doorstep (England as a whole is what I meant) and people just don't realise it and jet off all over the world!

It made me feel more British for seeing those hills and walking on them!

After walking back down the valley, we stopped off at the gift shop. I was surprised to find some Enid Blyton jigsaw's. As I chatted to the lady behind the counter she recommended that I visit Corfe Castle and visit the Ginger Pop shop! I couldn't have put it better myself!

As I climbed the Valley, a few well choosen pharses, one penned by Enid Blyton were floating around in my mind. Enid's well choosen words were from Five go to Finniston Farm, and are said by Julian after the five had been taken around the farm's fields by the farm hand.

He says"Well seeing all those fields made me feel more English!" Obviously, nowadays we'd say "British" if we said anything like that at all!

The second phase was based on Enid Blyton, but written by the screenplay writer on the 90's series of the Famous Five, which was said by Julian again (Played by Marco Williamson, for those interested). In Mystery Moor, after finding the train tracks on a ride on the Moor, at tea time, Julian says to the Johnson's as they try to persaude them to let the Five camp on the moor; "You can't explore properly. Not in a day!"

Which in the Long Mynd's case is extremely true. I'd love to go back and take a week or two to explore it properly. To absorb an area when Men have hardly made a mark!

Before we left Church Stretton, we paused at a local bookshop, where I managed to pick up a replacement copy of The Secret of Grey Walls, by Malcolm Saville, for what I would call a reasonable price. Then it was off home, leaving the wonderfil world of the Long Mynd to be explored again, another Day!