W
e hear the mewing cries of several Evesham, and in the distance the Cotswolds paint a faint line on
buzzards before we spot them, soaring the horizon. Sweeping west, the Severn Valley, Black Mountains
on thermals in the valley below us. and Brecon Beacons shimmer in the haze.
An occasional breeze sends the tuneful song of skylarks Continuing our turn, the rolling hills of Herefordshire and Powys
scudding off into the distance. Through hazy skies the sun hove into view. And finally we’re back in Shropshire and can see
warms our faces, making our cheeks glow – although that Ludlow nestling in the Teme valley below Mortimer Forest.
could also be from the effort of climbing to the summit of Just to the right of Ludlow is the Clun Valley, home to the highest
Titterstone Clee Hill, Shropshire’s third highest peak. concentration of watercourses in the Shropshire Hills. The valley
From below, its collection of radar aerials at the summit makes it was immortalised in literature by poet Alfred Edward Housman in
a landmark in the region. From up here on the grassy hilltop, we his collection A Shropshire Lad:
have an amazing 360° view of the surrounding countryside, and
what we see reminds me why the Shropshire Hills are one of 49 In valleys of springs and rivers,
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to be found in By Ony and Teme and Clun,
England and Wales. The country for easy livers,
At 533m (1,748ft) high, Titterstone Clee doesn’t qualify as a The quietest under the sun.
mountain, but it would seem it’s been a landmark for centuries: it
was the only English hill to be named on The Mappa Mundi, the Many of Housman’s Shropshire-based poems were written
14th century map of the world preserved in Hereford Cathedral. before he’d set foot in the county and were inspired by the
Designated an AONB in 1958, these hills have actually been ‘blue remembered hills’ he could see in the distance from his
4,500 million years in the making and were originally formed 7,000 home in Worcestershire.
miles away in the Antarctic – within Shropshire there are rocks f Today, we can see what he means: the haze offers a dreamy,
rom 11 of the 13 internationally recognised geological periods. bluish tinge to our vista. This year marks the 150th anniversary
From our vantage point we can see Brown Hill Clee, Wenlock of Housman’s birth but if he were standing with us today he
Edge, The Wrekin, the Stretton Hills, the Long Mynd, the would probably still recognise the views we see.
Stiperstones and the Clun Valley which, together with Titterstone Immediately before us stretches Wenlock Edge, the 30km
Clee itself, are all part of the region’s 804sq km of AONB. limestone escarpment formed 425 million years ago in the warm
On a clear day the view from here is reputed to be one of waters of a tropical sea. Visitors navigating the ridge continue to
the best in England. find fossils here including ancient corals, crinoids and trilobites.
Behind this, the whaleback ridges of the Stretton Hills poke
Poetry in motion into view. They run parallel to Wenlock Edge and if you join
To the east we can just make out the Peak District and the Clent them together on a map, they reveal the remains of a fascinating
Hills south of Birmingham. If we were to soar like one of the nearby geological fault line.
buzzards in an easterly direction at an altitude of 533m, the next There are two main geological faults in the Shropshire Hills: one
hills we’d encounter would be the Urals in western Russia.Looking at Church Stretton and one at Bishop’s Castle. Welcome to
southeast, the Malvern Hills jut out above the Vale of Shropshire’s earthquake zone. a174
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