Several route changes and updates have taken place over the years, the following are noteworthy:
2002 (event 35)
In 2002 after the hiatus for the 2001 cancellation due to foot and mouth restrictions, the hike route was changed to start at Old Cardington Lane instead of Church Stretton School: previously a mass start would take place along the road outside the school and participants would proceed along the road to All Stretton and then cross the A49 to tackle The Lawley first. This was proving dangerous and tricky to “police”. As a result the start was switched to a much safer field at the bottom of Caer Caradoc and Caer Caradoc itself became the first checkpoint instead of the last checkpoint (perhaps to the delight of some who hated tackling both Ragleth and Caer Caradoc last). To ensure this new route was (approx.) 50 miles an additional self-punch checkpoint was added at Minton (CP 15) forcing participants to descend to Minton from Pole Cottage (CP 14) instead of direct into Little Stretton via Small Batch, thus adding some extra distance.
2010 (event 43)
As a result of continued trespass on non-hike days onto private land to reach Black Rhadley (CP 12) via the road and the woods on the south-western slopes of Pellrhadley Hill, landowners withdrew their permission for the use of this access on the hike weekend. To ensure participants did not attempt to take this off-road route and instead followed the tarmac road all the way from Welsh Lodge to the Black Rhadley summit track located to the north of the summit, two additional manned checkpoints were added in 2010: CP 11A Nind and CP 11B on the roadside between Nind and the base of Black Rhadley. This route added approx. 1 mile to the overall distance.
2016 (event 49)
In 2016 a new optional off-road route partly across private land was negotiated and introduced for use on the hike weekend only. This route allows participants to leave the tarmac road just after Nind (CP 11A), proceed north along the public footpath to the west of Pellrhadley Hill and then turn east to reach Black Rhadley summit (CP 12) over private land. Participants are free to choose whether they use this new off-road route or whether they continue to use the road route, and as a result CP 11B, which had been introduced in 2010) was removed.
2023 (event 54)
The manned checkpoint 11A at Nind (introduced in 2010) was changed to a self-punch checkpoint. The route itself was left unchanged.