Rind The Wrekin 16^th October 2009
9 potential sqwalkers dropped out a few days before (Andy Mander – AM, Andrew AM's b in l – PM, David Hallam, Jacko, Austin, Harmesh, Corky (Graham Cork), Kat and Steve Mullock)
But ‘Up for it’ were the following 19: Yupmeister, Mid Week Tone, Granpop Bill, Keithee's up for it, Stubbee, JayCee, Dasher, Malc Jay, Mathew Jay, Mr Tahoohigh, Utterly, Heavy Steve Machine, Rob Sparklette, Thingy, Matt Nice one, Paul Hecky Thump, Tim Mothy, Stig (Steve Bickerton), Graham Hawkeye
Route: West from the Ironbridge along the Severn Way towards Buildwas. Continue west along the B4380 heading towards Leighton but at Saplins Wood bear north towards Morrell’s Wood and Gibbons Coppice. At Gibbons Coppice, head west along the Shropshire Way to Neves Castle and join the ascent up the Wrekin heading north east. On the north eastern side of the Wrekin, head south to Heaven Gate, then south east to Little Wenlock. Head south from Little Wenlock joining the Shropshire Way again then head east below Braggers Hill past the Moors and Leasows Farm and follow the trail towards Coalbrookdale. From here there is a steady stroll down back to Ironbridge.
The day began quite early for some with a start from The Westbury Tavern, arriving around 7.50am, some 25 minutes earlier than scheduled. Bill the minibus driver never likes to travel below 90mph. Bill dropped us on the north side of the river Severn, next to the impressive Ironbridge, and directly outside the infamous Eleys Pork pie shop, which had just opened its doors. Within 5 minutes the proprietor had set up tables and chairs on his forecourt for us and had made us a cup of tea. What service. We could have settled in for the day.
	Unfortunately, the day had begun even earlier for Heavy Steve Machine, who had woken up and visited Asda at 6am to fetch some pork pies to be eaten at the first pub. OOOoooops.
Eventually we prised ourselves from our comfy location overlooking the bridge and meandered over the bridge towards the car park, where we met up with the rest who had driven solo. A few group photos and we ready for the off with the prospect of the skies clearing ahead of us. A minute later and we were brought to an abrupt halt whilst Matt Nice-one raced back for his mobile which he’d left in his car. The collages of maps downloaded off the net were good enough for the first couple of a hundred yards. They did at least indicate a set of rather large round cooling towers which appeared from nowhere to our left and at least comforted Yup’s confidence in knowing we were on the right track. Thingy, surprisingly pulled out an OS map and the extra detail assisted us in meandering down alongside the river for a further distance till we crossed the road and wandered across the fields towards the Wrekin. Who needs maps when ace orienteer Stig is with you. ‘Yes it’s this way’ he said, ‘I was up here just a couple of weeks ago’. The Wrekin gave the appearance of a beached whale with steady inclines up each side. How wrong could that impression be ! The approach from the southern side was by far the steepest we’d endured in the past few years. At least the skies had cleared and the sun was out, - big deal.
A breakfast stop at the ‘top’ was instigated by Mr Tahoohigh taking his butties out of his rucksack and collapsing on the ground. It was however, a false top called Little Hill, and consideration of trying an escape route ‘round the Wrekin’ to avoid the last pull to the real summit was given. Of course we were all too manly to even consider such a mamby pamby alternative. A text was received from Corky cursing the doctors and wishing he could have been with us. Perhaps as well he couldn’t make it. Time to move on, and Thingy and Stig shot up the last stretch without noticing its steepness, while the rest of us fought through every yard with blood, sweat and determination.
News flashes from the Stoke office about potential early voluntary redundancies filtered through via the mobiles. One such call came from Pet who I think got more excited on hearing the sounds of heavy breathers on the other end of the line, than we were on hearing the news. Talking of ‘hearing’, as the breathing subsided, a small herd of deer stepped quietly across the path behind us. Aaarhhh. The views from the top were well worth the effort, although a parachute drop onto the trig point was considered to be a more preferable alternative to getting there on the way up. We were now running around half an hour later than planned. Heavy rang the lunchtime pub to politely inform her of our slight delay and was hit with a barrage of abuse. She wasn’t too happy! Matters weren’t helped when some strayed ahead and took a wrong turn. Luckily, Thingy produced his map again and guided us on in the right direction. The first pub, The Huntsman, had recently changed hands and was officially closed. Heavy had miraculously made arrangements behind closed doors for them to open especially for us. Sadly they’d have no beer on tap but were gracious enough to offer us bottled beers; Adnams Lighthouse and Pedigrees Victorious bitter, which went down a treat.

	On returning to the bar for a second bottle they revealed they’d only bought 24 bottles. Yikes. As luck would have it, Graham attempted to bribe Yup by offering him some of his beer, in the hope that he’d escape the wrath of his pen. The beer was gratefully accepted, but only time will tell if the bribe worked….. Out came 5 large well travelled pork pies. I bet it’s the first time 5 pies of that size have been carried up and over the Wrekin. Now that’s a challenge. With the loan of a knife and plates, many hands cut through the pies at 70p a shot.
To reduce the walk the lads in front shot off along a shortcut to save time, whilst some of us fulfilled the day’s aim to walk the complete walk!! (That makes a change). The walk through Lydebrook Dingle was probably the best part of the walk… You could see the tension and anticipation of meeting the ogre at the Coalbrookdale Inn building in Heavy’s eyes. ‘We could always tell her to stuff the meals where the sun don’t shine’, someone suggested.
In hindsight it was as well we didn’t. The landlady and waitress were very friendly and the food, I recall, was excellent. Only one hiccup, which was Heavy’s syrup sponge and cream that was served incorrectly. There’s always one. Oh, and a second hiccup, the Ironbridge bitter ran out, but thankfully it was soon supplemented by Holden’s Golden Glow and Bishops Castle’s 3 Tuns brewery bitter.
	As we stood to move on, Jaycee was left still sitting with a full pint, assuming we were there till 6. ‘Tell you what, you wouldn’t have finished that pint by 6’, Keithee shouted. As fate had it, we strolled down to Ironbridge, unintentionally taking the wrong route and miraculously ended up outside the Ironbridge Brewery. A split second vote and we were inside sampling Ironbridge 1774. Sadly some took their leave at this point, aware of the drive back home.

The barman could see Jaycee had had too much to drink already and gave him a plastic glass. It’s not the same as drinking from real glass he was taunted. Still, he had the last laugh, noting that on the day he’d drank one more pint than everyone else. ‘He’s a new man’, declared Tone.
	Not one to drink and drive, Jaycee moved outside and took the wheel of a black ford prefect, which was on display. After playing with all the gadgetry for some time and reminiscing, it was time to move on to check out at least one of the pubs we’d proposed to visit before being picked up by Bill.
We found Ye Olde Robin Hood Inn and settled down outside as the sun went down.  Joe cleverly converted his rucksack into a seat and reversed his non-reversible, non-breathable jacket to dry it out.  His taste in real ale, however, hadn’t waned, but it had to be pointed out to him that he was drinking Dashers ale with a dash. Bill the driver arrived early, having suffered an horrendous journey between his last job in Brum and Ironbridge.  At one point he’d had to drop below 85mph.  He was so shocked he downed a shandy with us before gathering us up and hurtling off back to Stoke.

Another one ticked off

Yup

(Enjoy yer sqwalks)