Wild camping on Caer Caradoc in Shropshire, England
I climbed a bloody big hill in England, in thick fog, in the depths of winter, for 4 minutes and 28 seconds of sunrise light. This is a wild camping trip on Caer Caradoc Hill in Shropshire.
Caer Caradoc Hill stands at just 459 metres, but it has decent prominence, great views, and a bit of character. On the top is the remains of a hill fort that can be traced back to the late bronze age. That’s a few thousand years ago! Bonkers. So it’s always a nice place for a hike and wild camp IMO. It’s cool that even today people are camping up there, just as they have done for thousands of years. Although nowadays, I’m here in a fancy tent with a Sony camera and a Pot Noodle, I’ve left my sword and shield at home.
Caer Caradoc parking is pretty easy, there are a few good options. I chose the layby on the side of the A49, it allows for a quick easy hike up to the summit. Copy and paste this into Google for the location - 52.55285814428794, -2.788620434452174
From here it’s a short simple walk through a field, up through a little bit of woodland, and then back through another field to reach the bottom of the hill.
At the top of this next field you’ll meet the main path and have two options, left or right, I made my own option 3 and went on a straight-line mission to the summit. It’s quite steep, but an enjoyable way to do it, with no paths and plenty of great views as you quickly leave the treeline behind.
With burning legs, I soon arrived at the summit ridge and turned left to head in an almost northerly direction towards the summit and hill fort. On the ascent I had climbed into a now thick layer of hill fog, but was able to keep my compass in my pocket, you can’t really go wrong on what is a fairly well-trodden path. A path that has been in use for thousands of years.
There has been a bit of work going on on that path by the looks of it. Building up a gravel path and “protecting” the hill fort. I’m unsure what they’re protecting it from, I’ve been up here a dozen times and it’s unusual to see anyone. Erosion I guess? I often think these places are best left alone. How long are we going to protect the hill fort for? Forever? What are we going to do? Stick timber-edged gravel paths all over it? Sod that. I’d rather see a minimal approach to conservation, keep it tidy, and let nature take its course, but who am I to comment?
Either way, I bet it looks a whole lot better than it did for those few thousand years. It would have been full of litter and all kinds of crap. Fire remains everywhere. Shit everywhere. Death and destruction.
In 50 AD during the Roman invasion of Britain, King Caractacus, of the Catuvellauni, faced the Roman legions after fleeing to northern Wales. He sought aid from the Silures and Ordovice tribes. The exact location of the battle is uncertain, but it is thought to have taken place in some part here on Caer Caradoc hill fort.
Caractacus chose this strategic high ground, making it difficult for the Romans to advance or retreat. His family was captured, and his brother surrendered, but Caractacus himself managed to escape. However, he was later betrayed and handed over to the Romans by Cartmandua, Queen of the Brigantes. Caractacus and his family were taken as prisoners to Rome.
It is said that he could well have hidden in the cave on the western side, a cave I didn’t visit on this occasion, as it’s usually full of water during the winter, but it’s a cool place to visit if you get chance.
After a little bit of summit exploration in the clag, and a visit to the depression on the northerly side to check the wind speed, I dropped back down the southwest side a few meters behind a rock to set up camp. Caer Caradoc Hill really tends to catch the wind, and I didn’t want to be in it. Those winter northerlys are brutal.
With a 271-meter prominence, Caer Caradoc was great for hill defence for King Caracatus, and it’s great for wild camping views, but there’s a tradeoff. It’s often blowing a hoolie up there.
Finding a wild camping spot on Caer Caradoc is pretty easy, there are lots of options up there. Other than the wind direction, I chose this particular spot for the much-anticipated view of Church Stretton if and when the fog cleared. If you’ve seen any of my other recent trips, you’ll know I’ve been on a mission to capture footage of Church Stretton town in a Shropshire Hills setting, so this was the main reason for being here.
My MSR Elixir 1 tent sat snuggly in front of some rocks and I settled in for a long cold night in the clag with fingers crossed for waking up to clear skies.
It didn’t happen, XCweather lied.
I woke up a few times in the night to be presented with the inside of a cloud, and then again at sunrise with an overcast letdown of a morning.
It’s a strange feeling at times like this, because for me, the reason for getting out on wild camping trips like this is mainly for the video content. With that scuppered, I have to be normal, and just try to enjoy the experience, and come back and try again. So I did what any normal person would do in this situation. I went back to my tent to make coffee and a bacon sandwich.
Then, would you believe it, it worked! The bacon sandwich worked. It fixed the weather!
I grabbed my tripods and double-timed it over to the eastern side of the hill to catch some incredible rays of light filtering through the clouds over the Shropshire countryside.
It was awesome, literally.
I’d taken a couple of Sony A7iii’s, and so I quickly set one to timelapse, and soaked up a few other shots with the second body while the light show lasted. And it lasted approximately 4 minutes and 28 seconds! That’s it. Two days, 400-odd meters, and 18 hours in the clag for 4 minutes and 28 seconds of awe-inspiring brilliance.
You’ve got to be in it to win it.
Check out the video on YouTube, cheers. Chris
England wild camping trip on Caer Caradoc Hill in Shropshire