Wild Camping: The Long Mynd 2023

For my third wild camping trip of 2023 myself and my number one wild camping companion, with whom I started wild camping with in 2021 and have continued to do multiple trips with every year since, decided to try a new location, which we usually call an 'away trip'. We started using the terms 'home' or 'away' trip as we had gotten into the habit of rotating between wild camps in the Wyre Forest, right on our hometown doorstep (home trip), or going further afield such as the Peak District, Forest of Dean, or Lake District (away trip). Anyway... For this 'away' trip we had decided on the new location - the Long Mynd, in the Shropshire Hills. Despite living only an hour away from the Long Mynd it's actually somewhere that I've never been before, and now after going, I can't believe that it's taken me so long! The Shropshire Hills are described as an Area of Natural Beauty (AONB), and when you're stood on the top of the Mynd, it's not hard to see why. It was a sunny afternoon when we arrived, which meant clear skies and views that seemed endless.

We initially parked up in one of the small gravel car parks not far from the Devil's Mouth in the late afternoon, with the intention of scouting out a camping location, before returning to the car to collect our rucksacks and then set out to our chosen spot. This is quite a useful tactic to employ, as it means that you can wander unencumbered without all of the (usually) heavy camping items, allowing you to cover more ground quickly, and then you can make a bee line straight to the spot as soon as you've reequipped yourself with your pack. After stopping to take some pictures of the many wild horses and breath taking views, we made our way round to a summit called Yearlet, from where we could assess possible locations from the raised ground. 

Stood on the slopes of Yearlet, we'd decided that our best bet for a pitch would be on one of the many moorland plateaus available, as they would hopefully provide reasonably level ground - the only challenge then, was to find one that was far enough away from the road and any footpaths, and preferably with some cover from the wind and any potential onlookers. After scouring the OS maps app on our phones, we made a decision to return to the car, drive further down the road, and try our luck on Round Hill.

Something that the Long Mynd has in abundance is parking, which, for an AONB, is not always so, but there are many small gravel areas where you can comfortably fit a few cars, which is ideal whether you're going up there for a walk, or if you're going for a wild camp as we were. We managed to find a car park not far from Round Hill where we intended to look for a spot, and after only 20 minutes of walking, on pretty easy going terrain, we found somewhere that fitted the bill very nicely. Out of sight from the paths and roads, we found a clear spot of grass, with soft ground to put the tents up on - and the best part, the view was amazing!

After an evening with a few beers, and eating our dinner in the setting sun, it soon grew quite chilly, despite the hot September that we had experienced so far - I think being at 460m might have had something to do with that, and maybe the wind! We stayed outside, sat on tarpaulin squares that made great seats on top of the soft grass and only retreated to our tents when a light rain started later in the evening. 

Early in the morning when we woke, our pitch was surrounded by a wall of mist straight from an epic fantasy novel, reducing our visibility to about only 40 feet. The epic views of the night before, had been swallowed in a blanket of white. As it was drizzly and more rain was predicted, we held off on making our usual coffee and bacon buttys, and opted instead to get packed up and head for the car, before any serious rain fell.

This location was definitely one of my favourites so far. It was so accessible, whilst having amazing views and a really wild feel. I would definitely come back to the Long Mynd again for wild camping, with the intention of seeking out other hidden spots it has to offer.