The Wrekin from Wellington 16th July 2016

The path through Limekiln Wood.

The thinker on Needles Eye.

The Wrekin ridge from our lunch spot.

At the trig point on The Wrekin.

The North east ridge path through the hill fort on The Wrekin.

The Ercall Quarry

Walk stats: distance: 8.0 miles. Climb:1335'.

Time: 6 hours 6 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.4 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.3 m.p.h.

Group: Martyn and Mike.

The weather forecast for Cadair Idris was horrendous, so we had to head South east for the prospect of better weather. We decided on the Wreking where the forecast was for cloud cover but at least we had the chance of remaining dry. Indeed it was, but the only discomfort that we had was the humidity, it being quite oppressive at times in the afternoon.

 We set off from Welling long stay car park, heading for Limekiln Lane on the way to Limekiln Wood. Although only just over a mile, this woodland walk seemed much longer with very few views to distract us and not many birds around either. Our approach up the Wrekin was up the steep path from the South west to Needles Eye. This is not a good path, but would be much worse going down!

 The summit ridge on the Wrekin was the best part of the walk, and was the only point that we really met other walkers. Most other walkers seemed to remain around the trig oint and toposcope, so we decide to have lunch on the rocky outcrop, the Needes Eye.

  The final part of the walk took us through Ercall Nature Reserve where we made the mistake of following the main path heading towards Wellington, we should have climbed to the ridge before descending.

 We arrived back at the car, quite tired and decided to look for refeshment in Wellington, rather than waiting until we were nearer home. This wasn't as easy as you would imagine, we only found one which was called the Plough Inn, very much a locals place. However Mike enjoyed his crisps and J2O and I enjoyed the Rosie's Pig Cider and American IPA.

 Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, Common swift, Barn swallow, House martin, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Common blackbird, Winter wren, Dunnock, Black-billed magpie, Carrion crow and Raven.