Richard Madeley leads Twitter dash up Wrekin

Television presenter Richard Madeley learned the power of Twitter – after being met by dozens of fans as he scaled The Wrekin with his sister.

Madeley was visiting family in the county at the weekend and decided to take a leisurely walk up the hill yesterday.

But after announcing his intentions on Twitter, the 55-year-old was greeted by dozens of his followers who followed in his footsteps after reading his tweet.

One resident was Daniel Jones, 39, of Dawley, Telford, who took his 11-month-old son Sebastian with him.

Mr Jones, who runs Dan Jones Guitar School in Shifnal, said: "My wife had seen his tweet and I go up The Wrekin once a week with a friend and I just thought we would go and meet him. I saw Richard coming down The Wrekin and I recognised him. He was really polite and very warm."

Madeley replied to one fan who asked if the eldest member of his family or the children walked up the hill. "Haha, no, just me and my big sister.

Took about 45 mins to get to top. Amazing views and astonishing wind nearly blew us off."

One fan suggested he should have announced where he had been after the visit to stop him from getting 'bombarded' by fans, but Madeley said:

"No, it was good fun to meet so many people on here – we had a lot of laughs. Crowded Wrekin!"

Madeley's links to Shropshire date back to his grandfather who lived on Kiln Farm, near Shrewsbury.