Another treat of a route! Shropshire’s Highland Challenge ventures not only into Herefordshire a little but also into Wales over the dramatic Kerry Ridgeway, for a lunch stop at Kerry – or Ceri in Welsh.
You will head west out of Ludlow, crossing the River Teme three times in the first ten miles. The first crossing is immediately after leaving the Rugby Club, with the “highland challenge” beginning quickly with a long haul up through Mortimer Forest over High Vinnalls. After a lovely descent through Pipe Aston, Elton and Burrington you cross the Teme a second time and follow it past Wigmore Abbey and through Adforton before the third crossing at Buckton. A remote valley lane takes you to Bucknell before the next climb up the beautiful, wooded Redlake valley to the 1st feedstop at Chapel Lawn.
You then continue climbing the Redlake valley through New Invention before the wild country and remote lanes around Purlogue and Upper Treverward take you onto the high moors. The rolling ridge road following the southern flank of the Clun valley is a delight – it was much appreciated ridden the opposite way on the Highland Challenge a few years ago. You reach Anchor via Bettws-y-crwyn and soon cross into Wales. In the Kerry (Ceri) Forest you cross the famous Kerry Ridgeway drovers road, and then there’s a glorious (aka long, steep and winding!) descent into Kerry (Ceri) for a village hall lunch stop.
After lunch you need to enjoy the section of flat and good tarmac of an A road east to Sarn because then there is the usual tough after-lunch big climb of the day, from Sarn to join the Kerry Ridgeway, which at this point is the actual England-Wales border. At the Dog and Duck crossroads you descend to follow the delightful Unk valley to the final feedstop at Mainstone village hall.
You continue descending the scenic Unk valley after Mainstone through Bicton to the small town of Clun. You follow the Clun valley east and south through Twitchen, Hopton Heath and Clungunford before the final touch climb of the day to Shelderton Rock, from which there is a long and mainly straight descent to Onibury. A tricky A49 crossing takes you on to the back lane to Ludlow via the Racecourse.
68.5miles (110km) and 5,452 ft (1,662metres) of climbing after you left in the morning.
2025 Route
A classic all-Shropshire and very hilly route, clockwise this year, with some stretches following 2024’s route but in the opposite direction, and some drawing on the aborted 2020 Highland Challenge route – remember Covid?
It started under Ludlow Castle, leaving Ludlow north-westward with the castle’s mighty presence right behind on the back (and in places rough) lane through the lovely Plymouth Estate. The first big climb was over View Edge about 8 miles in, and then across the Clun Valley to climb up through Hopesay to Edgton before descending to the first feedstop at Lydham North. It then passed through one of Shropshire’s finest small towns, Bishops Castle, and finest villages, More. There was a rough climb from Linley up via Nipstone Rock to The Bog Visitor Centre. From there it climbed the iconic Stiperstones and enjoyed one of the country’s finest (but very steep) long descents to the lunch stop at The Bridges.
Re-energised riders climbed the Long Mynd via Darnford Brook valley and Robin Hood’s Butts and rode close by Betchcott Hill, which the Shropshire Wildlife Trust had just been able to buy to become an important nature reserve. There was then an exciting (aka nail-biting!) descent down Castle Hill to All Stretton. It then traversed both the Stretton Hills and Wenlock Edge into Corvedale, highlights including the villages of Cardington and Tugford. The final feedstop was at Abdon, from where it skirted the Brown Clee to Cleobury North. The return to Ludlow included an interesting and rarely featured lumpy lane by Stoke St Milborough and Hopton Cangeford. 66.6 miles and over 6,000ft of climbing all told.
2024 Route: It’s all in the Mynd!
Winding round both Clee hills, going over the Edge, flanking Caer Caradoc and tackling the Long Mynd haul to Ratlinghope.
On Sunday June 9th, 2024’s 65.9 mile Shropshire Highland Challenge again did what it says on the tin. We maintained Danny Mason’s 32 year-old legacy of introducing hidden corners and climbs in our beautiful Shropshire Hills National Landscape to keen cyclists from near and far.
After leaving Ludlow round the Castle and passing thorough the town centre, riders headed east through Caynham under its hill-fort. Taking quiet and often steep lanes through Whitton, Coreley and Hints, they ascended the southern flank of Titterstone Clee Hill, with stunning views west, south and then east. After Doddington they traversed Shropshire Wildlife Trust’s Catherton Common and Cramer Gutter sites before reaching the first of the three famously friendly refreshment stops, at Oreton.
They ‘up-and-downed’ their way via Stottesdon towards Shropshire’s highest hill, the Brown Clee, looming ever grander in front of them. Skirting its north side via Ditton Priors, they descended to Stanton Long and Corvedale before climbing over Wenlock Edge by Wilderhope Manor, an Elizabethan manor house now run as a Youth Hostel. Descending to Longvile-in-the Dale, they arrived in the Stretton Hills. The lunch stop was in the lovely village of Cardington, nestled under the mighty Caer Caradoc.
‘Mynd over Matter!’ Skirting Caradoc’s massif, they started the biggest climb of the day over the Long Mynd from All Stretton. On the Inwood climb to Robin Hood’s Butts they had little choice but to take it slowly and enjoy one of the most scenic routes in the area. They descended dramatically to follow Darnford Brook to Ratlinghope and the Bridges before a rarely used lane under Norbury Hill delivered them to a well-deserved final refreshment stop at Norbury.
The final stage took them down the Onny valley, including a section of A road to Craven Arms. They returned to Ludlow Castle via Vernolds Common and Ludlow Racecourse. They rode 65.9 miles (106 km) and climbed 5,318 feet (1,621 metres) and saw the Shropshire Hills National Landscape at its finest.
2023 Route
The Wild West
After 2022’s rare but successful venture north, in 2023 we returned to a westerly route, including one real beast of a climb. There were stunning views in all directions and no dull sections. Particular 2023 themes were:
- An exploration of the remote Clun Forest, once a royal hunting forest – although this doesn’t mean it was all once covered by trees!
- Fine ridge riding: an unusually high proportion of miles feeling on top of the world
- Riding through or past three important Shropshire Wildlife Trust sites: an ancient oak coppice, a precious high wet heath and a famous common.
- Bridging the main rivers of the Shropshire Hills, some of them several times: the Corve, Onny, Clun, Unk and Teme.
- Riding through history: starting and finishing under Ludlow’s great Norman castle, past a partially Anglo-Saxon church, around an Iron Age hill-fort, along a Roman road, criss-crossing the 8th century Offa’s Dyke and close-up views of the ancient Kerry Ridgeway drovers’ road. The route also went right past Everest Hall (in honour of Lord Hunt of Llanfair Waterdine, the leader of the 1953 expedition to 1st climb Mt Everest)
- The usual mixture of long or steep (or both!) climbs, exhilarating descents, lanes with grass in the middle and blind bends – with a few linking stretches of A and B roads to enjoy 😊
The route was 65 miles (km) long and climbed 5,348 ft (metres).