The Wrekin, Wellington, Shropshire.

The Wrekin is a hill (1335 ft / 407m) that overlooks Shropshire Plains and is probably a welcoming sight for the local people of Wellington and Shrewsbury arriving back by road to their home county from all parts of the east.

(( I had no idea what kind of photographical material that I would collect on this walk (part 2 of 3 Shropshire) and even though it's not a strong set, I think it's passable as a cloud fest !
I hope you don't mind me taking the liberty of matching that with a shorter post where I don't have to think too much either for once in a while :-) ... I'm due a lazy post !!
I thought I'd experiment with something else a little bit different ... wonder if anyone will notice ! ))

It makes a nice change to go with the flow to see what happens as some of my solo trips can be ordered, complex but fun nonetheless. About ten days before this trip, I got an e-mail from the national organisation that I booked with to say that the hotel we were meant to be staying at (Buckatree Hall Hotel, Wellington) had been double booked. Fortunately though, alternative short notice accommodation was found at The Lion Hotel in Shrewsbury (Flickr image from previous post).
The Lion Hotel was probably a better option than the country hotel as we could use the facilities of the town at various stages of the weekend. However, there is always a downside as the planned figure of eight walk starting from the original Hotel door had to be modified and shortened significantly.
The task of transporting thirty people by cars to the main Wellington car park seemed routine enough but not practical on a busy saturday morning. Eventually the group somehow managed to congregate outside Wellington Leisure centre but not before numerous visits to the toilet inside !!

We set off to conquer the hill having lost a lot of time, passing the infamous hotel on the way. I got a bit lost from the surroundings with some interesting and unusual conversations talking to people I hadn't met before. It seemed a shame that some people from London can count on half of a hand how many times they had travelled more than 100 miles north of their City ... a wedding being one of the excuses, I mean reasons !!
On nearing the summit, it was time to take a talking break from all of that and let the camera do the talking instead ...

The Gathering !  The Wrekin.

Due to the modified extension at the beginning of the walk and some of the party not being used to walking up hills, we reached the summit at the same time that lunch had been arranged at a Pub in town !!

Geologically, The Shropshire hills are mainly found in the south west of the county with the volcanic style rock structure of The Wrekin being the exception to the rule. A narrow band of hillside extends north eastwards into the Shropshire plains with The Wrekin at the head.

However if you find that information quite dull, you can always believe the other story :-)  ......

There was a giant called Gwendol Wrekin and he didn't like Shrewsbury to the point that he wanted to flood it and destroy the residents with a giant sized spade full of earth. On the way there, he met a cobbler going in the opposite direction with a huge sack of old repairable shoes. As there were no maps at the time, the giant wanted the cobbler to give him directions for Shrewsbury. The cobbler, fearing for his trade, informed him that it was a very long way and he had worn out all these shoes getting to this point. On hearing this, the giant gave up on the idea and dumped the earth on the ground and it was called The Wrekin. A smaller mound called Ercall Hill was formed as he scraped the mud off his boots.

The Iron Age Hill fort became the location for a World War II beacon to deter planes away from its elevated intrusion on the nearby Shropshire Plains.

Transmission lines, The Wrekin

The beacon remained operational until 1960 and was replaced by a telecommunications media mast that started broadcasting TV and radio in 1975 with a replacement upgraded structure in 2000.

It seemed appropriate that many people wanted to join in with the digital experience and broadcast the events of their day to all their friends :-)

Family photo, The Wrekin

Having read the Mountain Rescue reports in years gone by from more severe terrain, I was reminded that people may be affected by the altitude and have the possibility of not having clarity of mind to think normally :-)

All too soon, it was time to descend a different way for a very late lunch. Had I had my own space and transport, it would have been nice to drive somewhere for a profile of the hill. This is the best I could do given the circumstances.

It's been some time since I ended a post this way so that just leaves me with the image you've all guessed was coming ....

New Dog, Old Trigs ! The Wrekin