Chapel Lawn Walk: Stow Hill & Caer Caradoc.

From the village hall car park, we shall ascend Stow hill ‘from the back’ via Squire. Good views to the North (weather permitting) after the initial woods. This climb to the top of Stow hill is an unremitting 240 metre (780 feet) slog uphill over about 1 kilometre – be prepared! At the top of Stow Hill, we can enjoy a tea/coffee break by the trig point (432m), where we have great views (weather permitting) to the North, East and South of Shropshire and Herefordshire hills. We then follow the Heart of Wales line trail gently westward to Five Turnings, and pivot north east along the Chapel Lawn road. This is a very minor and little used paved road, but obviously we will need to take care how we walk in case of traffic (I encountered none in my Saturday morning recce). After about 2 kilometres (1.4 miles), we shall turn right through a kissing gate to take the footpath up to Caer Caradoc hill fort (a mostly gentle 100 m, 330 ft ascent). This is a multivallate Iron Age fort, which may have witnessed the last stand of Caractacus (Caradoc) against the Romans, and a good place to stop and have lunch. From here we have a good 360 degree view (I hope), including Welsh hills, with Chapel Lawn and the ancient Brineddin wood below us. From there it’s back down hill to the village hall.

Apart from the sheep, there are great views and plenty of wildlife on this walk, Red Kites, Buzzards and Larks almost guaranteed – plus a chance to contemplate at least 3,000 years of our history