A yomp across the Shropshire Way to a great pub: the White Horse Inn

Eleventh-century Clun Castle is at the halfway point of this two-day walk on the Shropshire Way. All photographs: Joel Redman/The Guardian Photograph: Joel Redman

The brief is simple. A two-day hike with a railway station at either end and a pub with rooms in the middle. No need to carry much, just a change of clothes, some lunch and water. I don’t want a circuit; I want a straight yomp across magnificent countryside with an evening in front of a log fire and a shiny array of real ale pumps.

I am under strict instructions from my partner Sophie not to be too ambitious. “We want the perfect weekend walk,” she says, “not an SAS survival course.”