Long Mynd, Shropshire (MBUK 304)

START/FINISH
Blazing Bikes in Marshbrook (grid ref SO 441/898, postcode SY6 6QE).

LOCATION DETAILS
The Long Mynd (which means ‘long mountain’ in Welsh) is an 11km moorland plateau in Shropshire, south of Shrewsbury, not far from the Welsh border. This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty consists of big, green, rounded hills with steep gullies known as ‘batches’ that house some great trails. 

HOW TO GET THERE The Long Mynd lies west of Birmingham. Leave the M6 at junction 10A (from the south) or 11 (from the north) and join the M54. Follow it to Shrewsbury and then go south on the A49. You could start in Church Stretton, but we usually head just beyond, to Marshbrook.

MAPS AND USEFUL BOOKS
OS Landranger 137: Church Stretton & Ludlow.
Long Mynd MTB Map (available from the bike shop for £1).

ACCOMMODATION/FACILITIES There’s just about everything you could need in Marshbrook, where Blazing Bikes are situated – a campsite, pods, cafe, bar, restaurant, showers and of course the bike shop. Head to www.mtb-shropshire.co.uk for details.

Go right out of the shop, uphill on the B4370. Take the first right after 2km on to another minor road. Follow this to a crossroads in Hamperley and continue straight ahead. Head uphill into the trees and join the forest track (trail no.1), keeping left at two forks. Go straight ahead at a track crossing and continue to another crossing with a wide track.

Go straight ahead (trail no.2), downhill, zig-zagging to a road. Go right, then right on the Portway Road in Asterton. Turn left over the cattle grid, along the bottom of the hill (not uphill on the road). Continue straight ahead on the track (trail no.4), which becomes a road, until you come to a T-junction in Medlicot.

Go right, uphill. The road becomes a rough track (trail no.6). Turn left at a track crossing to the left of the top/viewpoint. Follow this track along the top, crossing a road. Continue straight ahead for 0.8km, then turn right on the Mott’s Road bridleway (trail no.10), following it down into Carding Mill Valley. This is a fast descent, so watch out for walkers.

Continue straight on, through the car park at the bottom. Bear left, uphill, on a stretch of singletrack. Ignore a bridleway that goes left, uphill. Instead, bear right around the golf course on a permissive route (trail no.15). Turn left at the car park on a track that heads up the valley. Bear right, then left (ignoring the singletrack to the right, uphill), past a new house.

Go right at the track crossing at the bottom of the valley (trail no.14). Head back on yourself, uphill, on singletrack. Keep left and bear left on a wide grassy track before the road to join a permissive bridleway (trail no.12). Keep left, uphill, bearing left near the top on a better surfaced bridleway (trail no.11), to The Portway.

Re-join The Portway and continue straight ahead past the viewpoint. Join a road and then go left on the Minton Batch bridleway (trail no.7) just before the entrance to the gliding club. This becomes a Tarmac track. At the road T-junction, go left. Keep right at Minton and head downhill to Marshbrook, then go right, back to Blazing Bikes.


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Routes produced in association with

Rough Ride Guide