Come to Shropshire and experience the diverse beauty of The Shropshire Way!

Dedicated volunteers have undertaken some incredible work to re-define and way-mark Shropshire’s own long-distance path, The Shropshire Way.  This 200-mile linear route links Shrewsbury with the historic towns and villages of Shropshire, through varied and beautiful countryside. There are five Walkers are Welcome towns on the route, Whitchurch in the North to Ludlow in the South, with Wellington, Much Wenlock and Bishops Castle in between.   The other two Shropshire WaW towns, Broseley and Cleobury Mortimer are only a short distance off route.   Several of these towns will be taking part in the 3rd Shropshire Way Festival from 20th to 28th September 2021, full details from the Shropshire Way Association website later in the year. 

Rationalising the Shropshire Way was an idea devised by Audrey Menhinick (Chair of the Shropshire Way Association) and the late John Newnham in 2016 to improve the Shropshire Way to become a full 192-mile-long distance path, with a 10-mile spur to Whitchurch. In recent years, many circular walks had been devised, obscuring the original route created by Ramblers in 1980, and resulting in a web of paths.

The Shropshire Way has a southern and a northern loop to form a figure of 8, centred on Shrewsbury. The Way is marked by a distinctive orange and black waymark with the directional buzzard pointing the way.

The informative website has downloads of the 15 stages, including user-friendly maps and directions, plus GPX files for mobile devices.  Volunteers have been recruited to be Stage Champions to monitor and maintain the Way.

The Shropshire Way Association (SWA) was re-formed in 2016 by members of local Ramblers and Walkers are Welcome groups, working closely with Shropshire Council’s Outdoor Partnership team.Progress has been swift. The SWA became a charitable trust, the entire figure of 8 route has been waymarked, an informative website created, a Cicerone guidebook has been published, and 2 successful walking festivals in 2019 and 2020 were organised.  The culmination of 2020’s voluntary work was the new Buzzard Sculpture, which was unveiled in September, at the official start and finish of the Way by Kingsland Bridge in Shrewsbury. The impressive, galvanised steel sculpture was designed by Jo Menhinick, made at Condover Forge, near Shrewsbury, before being mounted on to a piece of sandstone from Grinshill Quarry. The iron and sandstone were chosen to reflect the materials of the Kingsland Bridge.  In 2021 the SWA became  a registered charity. 

This successful project has been a real triumph of partnership working. It is hoped that many people will want to visit Shropshire to undertake the challenge of this 200-mile path, so contributing to the growth of tourism and Shropshire’s local economy.

The Trust relies solely on charitable donations, and on direct sales of the guidebook and the A2 map poster to fund the comprehensive website, leaflets and the way marks. Anyone wishing to donate can send an email to donations@shropshireway.org.uk

The image shows the Coalbrookdale Great Western Railway viaduct and Upper Furnace Pool. In addition the Shropshire Way crosses the River Severn several times and walks along the bank in places. It also uses stretches along the rivers  Corve,  Teme and Tern as well as the  Shropshire Union Canal and the disused Montgomery canal.