This is the second time we have visited this quiet village, and like our first visit, it's charms and pubs seem to overtake the normal YAC outdoor pursuits.
Saturday 5 May.
Bike ride: Church Stretton to Clun.
Annie, Pete and Andrew.
We struggled up the Carding Mill track dodging the pedestrians. Pete nearly made it onto the plateau without dabbing. From the trig point on Long Myndd, we made our way southwards down the ridge. We were now on the 'Mad' Jack Mytton* Way which is a long distance mountain bike route that Annie and I had ridden several years previously. We crossed the River Onny at Plowden, climbed Clinton Hill, thrashed through the cycle tracks in Hidden Ditches woods and back to the campsite in Clun.
Saturday 6th: Clun Green Man Festival
To save valuable drinking time, we all brought bikes to cycle into Clun
from our campsite. We went to Clun Memorial Hall to see Wilko Johnson with
support from Blues State UK.
We preferred the support band. Annie and Pete got in front of the stage
and gave the rest of the audience a magnificent lesson in pogoing. Perhaps
they could teach the rest of YAC at a social meet?
Not to be outdone, Karen gave us a demonstration of how to cycle home drunk on a bike in the dark nearly- but not quite- falling off. Luckily for her we didn't encounter any traffic coming in the opposite direction; if we had, drivers would have seen spectral lights oscillating from one side of the road to the other as Karen ricocheted from one kerb to the other. How she managed the cattle grid and the bridge with the low parapet we will never know.
Sunday 7th: Clun Green Man Festival
We spent a lazy Sunday wondering around the stalls in Clun's main street
and watching the members of the Plantagenet Mediaeval Society
knocking five bells out of each other with swords, maces and axes.
Monday 8th: Walking on Shropshire's Volcanos.
We all walked up the steep slope of Caer Caradoc, near Church Stretton,
in a stiff breeze, and admired the ancient earthworks whilst waiting for
the unfit Rob to catch us up.