I hate using public restrooms. I dislike the sounds, the smells, and the sensations. When I'm exiting the bathroom stall, I hate the awkward shuffle I have to do when I'm pulling the door towards me, while at the same time, trying to avoid touching the rim of the toilet with the back of my legs. But the worst part for me about using a public restroom is people overhearing me.
A yomp across the Shropshire Way to a great pub: the White Horse Inn
06.11.2023 - 15:11 / theguardian.com
The brief is simple. A two-day hike with a railway station at either end and a pub with rooms in the middle. No need to carry much, just a change of clothes, some lunch and water. I don’t want a circuit; I want a straight yomp across magnificent countryside with an evening in front of a log fire and a shiny array of real ale pumps.
I am under strict instructions from my partner Sophie not to be too ambitious. “We want the perfect weekend walk,” she says, “not an SAS survival course.”
I hide my notes: 1,500 metres of ascent is not going to happen.
“Maximum 12 miles a day,” she says. “Small hills and lovely weather.”
Finding the right location proves a challenge. Many of Britain’s rural railway lines have an unfortunate lack of stations (the UK once had about 9,000, but there is barely a third of that number left). The York to Scarborough line is typical: there are now only two intermediate stations in all its glorious 42 miles, down from a peak of 17.
But if railway stations have been badly hit, pubs have fared even worse. Figures for the third quarter of 2022 show UK closures running at 50 a month, part of a long-term decline, despite plenty of evidence that communities with a pub tend to prosper, economically and socially. Our walk then, if I can find it, might play a tiny part in supporting some vital rural institutions.
In the end I settle on a line that has kept its stations, and even a few “request stops”. The Heart of Wales line runs 121 miles from Shrewsbury to Swansea, with an impressive 32 jumping-off points in between. How the route has survived all the attempts to close it is a tribute to local determination – and perhaps the fact that it passes through several marginal parliamentary constituencies. There is even a footpath that loops in and out of touch with the line, enabling a whole host of possible weekend trips.
I decide to stick to the eastern end of the route, however, making the trip practical as a weekender from many major British cities.
Having embarked at Shrewsbury, we leave the train at Craven Arms, a good starting point as it lies on the Shropshire Way. This 200-mile figure-of-eight trail has Shrewsbury at its centre, and we’re on the southern loop. We head west out of town into steady rain, following the distinctive “buzzard” waymarkers across fields, then up into Withins Wood, where there’s an iron age hill fort.
For a few minutes the rain stops and there’s a sudden deluge of sunshine that raises thick mysterious mists among the trees. I brace myself. This is the kind of moment when the dreaded term “Tolkienesque” can leap out, but fortunately the rain returns, saving us that embarrassment.
Soon we spot the ghostly outline of Clun Castle through the clouds. The little town
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