Upper Ellastone
Wednesday 23 September 2026
6.75 miles Leader Frankie L.
Weather 16°C. Fair
No on walk 14 + 1 Dog
14 of us, and a dog, met at Upper Ellastone on a fine morning, tho rain was forecast. We walked a short distance along the road before turning off across fields and meadows towards Wootton where we had an early break. Arriving in Wootton we had the first of our day long animal experiences being greeted by very excited horses. Continuing through the village via Back Lane we headed across fields towards the Weaver Hills. After several electric fences and eccentric gates and stiles we arrived at the road that runs past the hills. From that high position we could see the Wrekin and the Long Mynd in the distance. Soon after this, and a demonstration by Lenny that he could manage a cattle grid, we encountered the first group of cows. Not impressed by the dog they showed their displeasure. Having escaped unscathed from that, the weather took a change for the worse and it began to rain, very heavily. We were now up high on the hills and very exposed. My lunch spot by the trig point at 372m did not seem a very good idea so I proposed to have lunch sheltered by a wall and avoiding another very tricky stile. Unfortunately a large herd of assorted horses and ponies appeared and we all had to cross the stile to the relative safety of the other side. Those who had never been to the Weavers before made their way up to the trig point before joining the rest of us by the wall. We were then joined by the heads of large horses who seemed immune to barbed wire and were able to stretch right over to see if we had anything interesting for lunch. Whilst this was happening a herd of cattle were quietly making their way towards us to investigate so we had large inquisitive beasts in all directions. I noticed that their ear tags were different colours and remembered that some time ago a similar herd had their names on one of the tags. These too had name tags. (See photos) Our next challenge was to go back over the awkward stile and face the horses and ponies once again but by now they had decided to behave badly and we were glad to cross another stile. Leaving them behind we began our descent back towards Wootton by contouring the hill then heading across fields. In the middle of one field is a Peak and Northern footpath sign that always strikes me as odd as there are no visible paths at all. From here it was an easy walk down to the farm where we enjoyed sitting in the sun, drinking tea or coffee or eating icecream. From the farm we made our way towards the park gates of Wootton Lodge, the home of Mr JCB, via a minor road, some large nettles and some woodland. From the gates it was an easy route along a road then open fields and we soon saw the church tower and our final destination. Frankie.