We had Sunday Lunch at the Station Inn in Marshbrook. They're developing a mountain bike centre there and it was interesting to look around at their "Camping Pods" and at the new shop. However, it was too cold to spend too much time lurking, so we went in for a lovely lunch at the carvery.
The car thermometer informed us it was 3C outside as we set off afterwards to drive up the Mynd for a walk. It's a nasty road - single track with passing places - and at one point we met a Circus truck towing a caravan coming the other way. Hard to imagine where it came from. Surely the driver wasn't foolhardy enough to attempt to bring that whacking great thing up the Burway from Church Stretton and then down the really steep road from the top of the Mynd? In winter the road is often closed and most sensible people drive the long way round.
There were no "road-closed" notices, so we carried on up. By the time we got to the top the temperature had dropped to 0C and there was slush and ice on the road. We also found a dusting of snow. However, we parked at Pole Cottage and took a little walk to the highest point on the Mynd - Pole Bank. The visibility was good - we could see the Malvern Hills to the southeast and the mountains of Mid-Wales (probably the Berwyns) to the west. If you click on the picture below, which was taken at Pole Bank, you can enlarge it and then you will see Corndon Hill on the left. That is the nearest part of Wales to us - just about 10 miles away from our house if you go in a straight line over the two ridges of hills that separate us.
