There is a need to escape from the clutches of the turkey and the sales, in the days between Christmas and New Year. It's become a bit of a tradition to do "a short one" (about 6 miles in this case) when the weather forecast looks sensible - and on the Wednesday, it did. "Where shall we go?". As usual, it was up to yours truly to pick a suitable route - and, given the forecast, the deeper valleys would be worth avoiding. With temperatures unlikely to rise above freezing, we'd need the sunshine.

We left the car in the convenient little car park near the Swan at Aston Munslow, and took the field path to Munslow, there picking up the track through Millichope Park before descending to the hamlet of Upper Millichope. A walk up the very quiet road took us to the crest of the Wenlock Edge.

One very significant bonus of the previous night's hard frost was that conditions underfoot along this next stretch were entirely bearable. The Jack Mytton Way ("Shropshire's long distance bridleway") runs along the edge for a mile or so here, and inevitably the surface gets a bit chewed by the four-legged walkers (I'm not complaining - they're infinitely preferable to the four-wheeled brigade). Today the mud was well-frozen, and the walking was pleasant in the sunshine, despite its lack of any warmth.

Above the hamlet of Eaton, a very steep path - "Jacob's Ladder" rises to the edge. Its continuation took us down to Hope Dale, the riverless valley formed by the Wenlock Edge's double escarpment. From Wetmore Farm, a path rises gently to the second edge at Middlehope Hill - and from there it's all downhill along the surfaced lane, treacherous in the frost, to the car and the Swan - where a pint and a bowl of hot soup provided an excellent end to the trip.

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