Long Mynd, Shropshire (MBUK 317)

Location details
The Long Mynd is an 11km moorland plateau, south of Shrewsbury, not far from the Welsh border. This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is a series of big, green, rounded hills with steep gullies, known as batches.

Start/Finish
Carding Mill Valley car park (grid ref SO 445/944, postcode SY7 9NZ).

How to get there
Head to Church Stretton, off the A49. Go west on the B4371, then right on the High Street (B4370), then left up Carding Mill Valley. There is a train station in Church Stretton. Park just past the last house on the left in the little layby or further up on the right. 

Maps & books
OS Landranger 137: Ludlow & Church Stretton.
The Long Mynd MTB Map (£1 from local bike shops).

Accommodation/facilities
The Shropshire Hills Mountain Bike and Outdoor Pursuit Centre in Marshbrook has a campsite, pods, bar, restaurant, showers, bike shop and hire (www.mtb-shropshire.co.uk, 01694 781515). For other options, contact Church Stretton Visitor Information Centre (01694 723133, www.churchstretton.co.uk). For spares try Blazing Bikes in Marshbrook (01694 781515, www.blazingbikes.co.uk) or Plush Hill Cycles (01694 720133, www.plushhillcycles.co.uk) in Church Stretton.

Join a singletrack trail on the right (when looking up the valley, away from town) that starts near the beginning of the car park and heads uphill. Ignore the bridleway that goes left, uphill, and instead bear right around the golf course on a permissive route (trail 15 on the local MTB map). Turn left at the car park on a track that heads up the valley. Bear right and then left (ignore the singletrack to the right, uphill), past a lone house.

Go right at the track crossing at the bottom of the valley (trail 14), back on yourself, and head uphill on a section of singletrack. Keep left and then bear left on a wide grassy track before the road (trail 12). Keep left, uphill, and bear left near the top on a better surfaced bridleway (trail 11) to The Portway. 

Go straight along the top (Jack Mytton Way and Shropshire Way) to the summit of Pole Bank and then down the other side to the road. Keep ahead/right on this until you reach the entrance to the gliding club, then turn sharply left on a grassy track that drops down into the valley.

Continue following this track as it becomes a good, well defined singletrack trail down Minton Batch. Turn left on the road at the bottom, then left at the fork in Minton. Go straight over the crossroads on the road to Little Stretton. 

Bear left at the T-junction in the village, then right at a wide road junction. Turn left at the crossroads and follow the B4370 all the way back to Church Stretton. Turn left at the crossroads by the bank. Go straight over the next crossroads, uphill, and then bear right after a cattle grid, downhill, back along Carding Mill Valley.

Rough Ride Guide