11 SHROPSHIRE GOLDSTONE & CHESWARDINE
■Distance: 6¼ miles/10km ■Time: 3½ hours ■Grade: Moderate
CHOSEN BY… MIKE COPE
This is a peaceful rural walk across farmland and through pockets of woodland, followed by a long stretch along the Shropshire Union Canal. The Woodseaves Cutting is a prodigious feat of engineering, cut out of solid sandstone with pick and shovel by the navvies who built the canal. This steepsided cutting (between bridges 56 and 58), dug out in 1829, proved troublesome, with frequent landslides during construction. The brittle lumps of sandstone had a tendency to dislodge themselves and tumble into the canal.
1 Start Turn R from car park and cross canal bridge. Go L down ramp to gain towpath and keep ahead, exiting canal at second bridge (53) and climbing ramp to road.
2 ¾ mile/1.2km Go L along lane, which ascends gradually past Westcott House. Not long after, climb stile in hedge on L and proceed along hedge line to field corner. Go L along field edge to next stile. Go R here and across next field, keeping hedge L. Go through metal gate at end of field and along hedged path. Emerge near village green (with exercise equipment), and keep ahead along road past village hall.Go L at T-junction and continue along High Street past St Swithun’s Church and, when road bends sharply L, keep ahead along Lawn Lane. Lane becomes track. After passing two boulder stones, the path narrows and enters some woodland.
3 2 miles/3.3km At next junction (with fingerpost), fork L along wide walkway through field. When wide track ends, keep ahead for another 50 metres. Cross stile and footbridge to enter woodland (Lawn Drumble). Exit woodland via two stiles and continue along L edge of next field. Climb stile into woodland (Haywood Drumble) and follow path between two ponds.
4 2¾ miles/4.3km Bear R to exit woodland via stile. Keep R of next field, pass concrete water tank at end of field, and continue across next field with hedge L. Follow path around small pit and continue to end of field. Keep ahead at next fingerpost (taking care to disconnect electric cable
