Date posted: Dec 30, 2021
We have come to the end of our Trigpoint Challenge. It's the end of the year and our aim has been to complete the challenge by visiting the Wrekin.
Onwards and upwards then...
Thursday 30th December
It is the end of the year and we have come to the end of our challenge. The aim at the start of the year was to visit every trigpoint in Shropshire by the end of June but that target was quickly amended to the end of the year because of the Covid restrictions.
It has been an interesting year, and one I will never forget. Almost immediately the whole country was asked to stay at home and only venture out if really necessary such as for shopping and some exercise. It was as if Covid was there to thwart us. As the challenge was designed to raise funds for the Rotary Club of Whitchurch I felt that we should follow the government guidance so initially we visited those trigpoints that were near Whitchurch.
In March the restrictions were eased so we were able to venture further afield. We managed to visit all 34 of the trigpoints north of the A5 by the end of May. We still had 62 to do though! Would we manage it, I wondered. We also had a couple of holidays booked and I wasn’t putting them off!
As the months went by it became harder to motivate ourselves to get out and drive 30 or 40 miles each way to visit a few more trigpoints. I must admit that once got going we really enjoyed the day. We went to places that we would never have considered going to. The scenery was, for the most part, fabulous. And we hardly met anyone while we were out walking. Some of the walks were hard and by the time we returned to the car we were more than happy to get the boots off and make our way home. But the satisfaction in the end far outweighs the sore feet and aching legs!
It had always been my aim to climb the Wrekin as the last trigpoint. It is only 407m high but it seems a lot higher. The hill can be seen from quite a distance and the view from the top is stupendous and is visited by a large number of people every day. The car park is always full and, apparently, from the New Year there will be a charge for parking.
We parked in a small car park in Ercall Lane, opposite Buckatree Hall hotel. This was the nearest car park that we could find that had spaces. We walked along the lane towards the Wrekin and soon came to the start of the path which leads up to the top. It’s easy to find as there are many people walking up the track and many more coming back down.
The path is steep but easy to follow. It bends to the right and then to the left and always upward. Halfway up there is a house that is up for sale and in a former life was probably the Halfway Café. I wasn’t surprised to see there was a defibrillator on the outside wall beside the path. I wondered how often it had been used!
Our frequent stops allowed us to catch our breath and have a few sips of water. As we looked through the trees we could see that the views were getting fabulous. But we couldn’t stay for long, we had to get to the top!
As we made our way upwards I noticed the people coming towards us on their downward journey. There was one lady who came towards me who was travelling quite fast and was swinging her walking poles in such a way as to make her quite obvious. Sometime later I was sure that she was coming down towards me again! I asked her if this was the case and she replied that she had been up to the top 3 times already that day. She said that she was in training to go to Everest Basecamp in March and she has been doing this every day during ‘lockdown’. I wished her well and watched her continue.
We made it to the top. What I found fascinating was the groups of people who were there and their footwear and clothing. There were young children who were in tee shirts and trainers while others, such as ourselves, who were in hiking boots and anoraks. Some people had dogs and some had small children but all were determined to get to the top and enjoy the view.
Unfortunately the view was nothing compared to our last visit and it started to drizzle so the view was becoming less with each minute. We took our pictures and one party thought our Triggy was great and had their pictures taken with him. I noticed that the Wrekin Viewpoint plate which shows all the points of interest in the distances was erected by the Rotary Club of Wellington to commemorate the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. I thought it rather apt as we were doing the trigpoint challenge for the Rotary Club of Whitchurch.
Soon it was time to leave and make our way down. I must admit I preferred to be going down and meeting the people coming up who looked as puffed as I was earlier. We eventually reached the bottom and back to the car, two hours after we started out. I was surprised how quickly we had done this. We obviously aren’t as unfit as I thought.
That’s it. The end of the challenge! New Year’s Eve tomorrow and 71 of the 96 trigpoints done.
Thanks to all those who have sponsored us and helped raise nearly £9,000 of the £12,000 target.
Technical Stuff.
Wrekin – TP0712 – Map Ref: SJ 62806 08093 – Flush Bracket: 2980
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