It doesn’t seem long since we were planning our walk along the Mortimer Trail.  Now it’s done, and it’s time to reflect, in a way that I hope is helpful to future walkers.

It’s great walking.  OK, we were very lucky with the weather – dry, pretty clear, and not too hot.  But even in poor weather, it would have a lot to offer keen walkers.  The paths are mostly good, though getting overgrown in some places, particularly at the Kington end, in spite of the efforts of volunteers to keep them clear.  There’s plenty of variety: open land, forest (evergreen and broadleaf), an attractive stretch along the River Lugg, and enough up and down to make it interesting without becoming a slog.  You don’t get views like these without doing some climbing: they really are terrific, to all four points of the compass, sometimes at once.  There aren’t many sections along roads, and none of these had much traffic on.  Nor were there many other walkers. 

The flowers were lovely, at the very start of June: the bluebells were more or less finished, but there were whole fields of buttercups and plenty of red campion in the hedgerow.  We saw a kite and a mistle thrush (thanks to my friend Joanna for identifying that for us), (roe?) deer and muntjac deer, hares and rabbits.

I’ve just finished The Lost Paths, by Jack Cornish of the Ramblers, and he might have something critical to say about the number of stiles, especially nearer Kington.  Some footpaths through fields of crops had been left, but others – again more as you get towards Kington – had been sown, not always with even much of a border to walk round the outside.

There aren’t many facilities along the route.  A big shout out to St Peter’s church at Titley, which opens its doors to all-comers offering its toilet, and facilities for tea and coffee: very welcome, thank you.  The Riverside at Aymestrey is more or less on the route, and looks nice: you can still just have a drink there, which we did, but it’s geared up to providing full meals rather than snacks, and they are strict about you not eating your own food when sitting outside and having a drink there.  We didn’t go to the Stagg Inn at Titley, also near the route. Nor did we investigate options for accommodation or taxis, but used two cars to get to and fro.  One of the attractions of the Trail is that it is quite remote, but that does make access a challenge at times – you just have to allow enough time for whatever approach you take.

The other point to note is that much of the history needs side trips off the Trail, for example to Richards Castle or Wigmore Castle, the seat of the eponymous Mortimers for centuries.  It would be a 5 mile round trip to include Wigmore Castle, so one to plan in quite carefully.  Looking at the geography, I doubt that the Mortimers used this route to get to Ludlow, or as their first step towards other parts of the Marches.

So if you enjoy being right out in really lovely English countryside, and can get organised for transport and food, this is a good trail to choose: we took three days; really fast walkers might do it in two; people wanting side trips to the castles could easily take four.  Even if the weather isn’t as good as ours, you will get plenty of exercise and – I found – the real sense of refreshment that comes from putting one foot in front of the other in glorious surroundings.