Shobdon Hill trig point bag was the second to last trig to bag in the north-western quadrant of Herefordshire! For this bag, I headed toward Byton, and my intention was to park in the ‘Patrons only’ car park for the church assuming there was a) room and b) no service on when I visited anyway. There was indeed no service, so I tucked in and headed up the lane.
There was a sign marking the infamous ‘Mortimer Trail’. ‘Infamous’ as every trig point I’ve bagged so far, this trail is the worst trail to a) follow (it appears and disappears constantly so not easy to follow) and b) most of what I’ve experienced of it, it has been poorly maintained and badly neglected resulting in an overgrown mess. It didn’t fill me with hope!
Anyway, I headed up the field, only to find there was indeed no trail… That I could see!
After a bit of aimless wandering, I gave up and followed the lane some more. There was another gate with a public footpath sign on that went nowhere. It was however by a house – so I gave them a knock to find out what the crack was.
A jolly old boy explained that the field in which the trail was isn’t maintained by the farmer, and as a result, I wasn’t the first (or last!) person to ask. He was used to it! He pointed the way up his private lane which joins the ‘Mortimer Trail’ further on up. The chap also said that some contractors had recently visited to maintain the trail.
Wasn’t sure whether or not to be excited about this, but it turns out they did do a half decent job because this route would have been impassable if they hadn’t. It was cut back, but had already started growing over an already very narrow trail.
There’s a little crossroads, follow the sign pointing to Ludlow all the way along until it opens up onto a track for vehicles and a gate to the right.
This gate was already open. I followed the left hand edge of the field up to the high point… And down a bit the other side to find…
The Shobdon Hill trig point!
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into the adjacent field in which the trig pillar was sat. As well as a barbed wired fence, there was also an electric fence around the perimeter – either to keep people out or something in.
Either way, I couldn’t get a decent picture of the trig pillar (or the top of it) as it was sat awkwardly in a prickly hedge. Similar kind of disappointment I experienced at the Apostles Farm trig point bag!
Needless to say, I bagged it, took as good a photo as I could. After that, I went back the way I came. On the way back, there’s a big metal gate into a field. In the distance, you can see the vehicle track I mentioned above. I don’t know for sure, but I reckon if you hopped over this gate and headed to that track – that’s the gate into the sheep field I was in. May be useful if the Mortimer Trail becomes impassable again – just don’t tell me off if I’m wrong!
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Grid reference: SO 37866 64011 | T:UK waypoint: TP5956 | Taken from www.streetmap.co.uk
