Thursday 12 February 2026 - A Visit to Shrewsbury

After a gap of some years, Sue and I arranged to see my cousin Richard and his wife Kathy at their house in Shrewsbury. Tea and cake was on offer to celebrate the occasion - Kathy had baked a delicious chocolate cake.

Before the afternoon with R & K, Sue and I enjoyed a 9 km stroll from the 'Love Plants' garden centre/caravan sales park at Emstrey. A giant sculpture of a dragonfly marks the entrance.

A field path led down to the River Severn, quite full after recent rain. We thought there might be a nicely surfaced walking route, but all we found was a muddy footpath.

After a couple of km we left the river bank in favour of footpaths towards the town centre. We soon passed Lord Hill's column, a 133 foot Doric column (the tallest in England). It looked splendid, apparently recently refurbished according to Richard, whose home is very close by.

Lord Hill (1772 - 1842 was a renowned British Army commander from Shropshire, famous as Wellington's trusted right-hand man during the Napoleonic Wars.

I have memories of enjoying the views from the column when I went up it as a 5 year old during a six month period when we lived in the nearby rectory with my grandparents. My grandfather was the vicar at nearby St Giles. I still remember going to my first day at school in Shrewsbury.

Sue and I continued past the abbey. Time constraints meant for a very brief visit, so we couldn't admire the stained glass windows and other features of this and other buildings.

After a while I spotted a route that avoided any roads. It was muddy.

 

As we were short of time, lunch comprised a couple of sandwiches from Greggs, before we returned to the car and made it to Richard and Kathy's nearly dead on time.

Here's our route - just 9 km, with 60 metres ascent, taking less than a couple of hours.

We'll be back. And we will arrange to see Richard and more of his family again soon.

2 to 8 February 2026 - Another Week at Tigh Mor

Index:

Monday 2 February 2026 - Our house at Tigh Mor

Tuesday 3 February 2026 - Primrose Hill

Wednesday 4 February 2026 - Conic Hill

Thursday 5 February 2026 - Stank Glen

Friday 6 February 2026 - Callander to Tigh Mor

Saturday 7 February 2026 - University of Stirling parkrun, and Lewis Hill

Sunday 8 February 2026 - Inversnaid to Stronachlachar

2025

4 to 9 February 2025 - A Week at Tigh Mor

Sunday 8 February 2026 - Inversnaid to Stronachlachar

Steady rain fell as Sue and Phil and Mike packed up to go home to look after Phil and Mike's mother. That left Alison and Russell, who did their own thing, David who went up a hill in a cloud, and seven of us - me, Sue, Julie, Tom, Richard, Jenny and Jessica - who enjoyed a short walk along the Great Trossachs Way.

By the time we reached Inversnaid, where the large hotel pictured above was closed, the rain had subsided to a light drizzle, so as on every day of this trip waterproofs were donned but any dampness was due to condensation.

The waterfall next to the hotel was in full flow. It's a busy place 'in the season' as the West Highland Way passes through here.

Initially the path rises steeply out of Inversnaid.

 

The view across Loch Lomond confirmed our wise decision to stay low!

The air must be clean here - a good breeding ground for lichen.

After emerging onto a road at the top of the forest walk, we passed a bunkhouse much used by WHW walkers - a defunct chapel put to good use.

There's an RSPB reserve here. Lots of enclosed geese, and a young cow tucking in to a tree.

The earlier rain had cleared the air a little. 

Looking back, Garrison Farm used to be a military barracks. It has a rich history that features Rob Roy and others.

Our well laid path passed the dam at the end of Loch Arklet.

In between showers we enjoyed views across the Loch.

Lunch was taken in the middle of a downward section of path. It wasn't busy, we saw three people.

After that, a straightforward walk to Stronachlachar, where we had left a couple of cars.

Here's our route - 8.5km with 220 metres ascent, taking rather less than 3 hours. 

The tea room at Stronachlachar is excellent. Here's  Julie enjoying welcome refreshments, as a Highland cow looks on.

Some of us bought walking guides - perhaps after the horse had bolted, as we go home tomorrow. 

But we'll be back, hopefully to enjoy more than just this glimmer of sunshine that graced the view from Inversnaid when we arrived to collect the cars.

Last night all 13 of us dined at Scott's Bistro, about a 20 metre walk from our house. Here's our group at dinner time.

Tonight it's our home made lasagne.

Saturday 7 February 2026 - University of Stirling parkrun, and Lewis Hill

With the weather forecast predicting 100% chance of rain in Stirling, Sue and I set off to Stirling University with the wipers on and waterproofs at the ready. The parkrun route is two laps of the small lake pictured above, plus an up and down dogleg to get the distance up to 5km.

Just as we parked up, the rain stopped and all we had for the rest of the day was a bit of drizzle. 

Sue took 26:08 and came in 80th out of 286 finishers. I was in position 210 in a time of 34:04. Here's a picture of the finish.

After that we drove to the other side of Stirling to meet with Richard, Jenny and Julie for a 10km walk over Lewis Hill. The path soon became narrow and steep. Quite thrutchy in places.

There were initially some views over the nearby countryside but we were soon cloaked in cloud and only just able to make out the waterline of the nearby reservoir. 

Sue found a giant mushroom - a Birch Polypore weighing in at over a kilo.

Other items of interest seen during the course of our walk are shown below.

Trumpet lichen

Netted Crust

Conifers (lots)

Scarlet Elf Cups

Despite the low light that we endured all day, the green moss on the trees, rocks and path added a little colour on the gloomy day.

After a few more thrutchy climbs we eventually came upon the trig point at 266 metres signifying that we had conquered Lewis Hill. We celebrated with coffee and snacks.

Continuing along the escarpment we eventually reached a road that in a short distance we left in favour of a path that led to a nice lunch spot.

Just beyond the lunch spot, a small weir was accompanied by the remains of a fish ladder.

The attractively named 'North Third Reservoir' was arrived at via a few duck boards and a lot of mud. Binoculars came out to confirm the identity of a flock of greylag geese. An oyster catcher objected to our invasion of its privacy, but the great black-backed gulls, mallards,  Canada geese, various gulls, and other laid back residents didn't seem bothered by our presence.

There were more board walks. 

The reservoir was last enhanced in 1934. It is 49 feet deep at the tower.

Beyond the reservoir a muddy path led in a couple of kilometres back to the cars.

This was a lovely walk from which there are alleged to be fine mountain views. We'll need to visit it again to benefit from those...

Here's the route  - 10km with 250 metres ascent, taking us 4 hours.

A few folk were seen today - dog walkers, and mountain bikers enjoying some tricky singletrack routes.