Thursday 14 March 2024

Churnet Valley and the Weaver Hills

Saturday 27th January 2024

For many months before this walk I had hardly done any walking, partly because the ground was so saturated after heavy rain that it wasn’t worth going for a walk, but with January being less wet I was keen to break out of my rut, drag myself out of the house and go for a walk, and I felt so much better for it. My place of choice was the Churnet Valley, a little-known area in Staffordshire that I first visited in 2021 and ever since I have been obsessed with it, loving its steep wooded valleys. I parked at the Mill Road car park in the village of Oakamoor and soon entered Cotton Dell Nature Reserve, which is a magical place in any season passing through a narrow valley where fallen trees litter the stream. The restorative effect on me of just a short walk through this wood was amazing and I was in awe of every step as I took loads of pictures and slowly made my way up the valley. When I reached a junction of paths I turned left, as I always do, to follow the right-of-way steeply up the muddy bank and out of the valley. A slender path continues up the bottom of the valley which I have often wanted to explore but that part of the valley is not open to the public so instead I have always followed the right-of-way that keeps high up the western slopes and past Cotton Bank Farm and Side Farm.


My route for this walk was taken from the OS Map app where it is called “Oakamoor/Alton circular (staffs)”, and I had already deviated from the route to visit Cotton Dell, but now I was back on course following a track north. So far I had been in familiar territory, but a right turning coming up took me into countryside that I was not familiar with and even that first turning was missed! Once I had retraced my steps I took the difficult-to-follow path across the valley and onto Cotton Lane passing the derelict buildings of Cotton College and St Wilfred’s Catholic Church. Eventually I turned left off the road to take a track up into Ramshorn Common where the path was very faint and often exceptionally boggy. At one point, after crossing a bog, I found a good path that was a pleasure to walk upon, until I realised that I was going the wrong way and I had to retrace my steps back to the bog and take a non-existence, boggy path through the wood. I suppose in better weather this would be a good walk, but not at this time of the year. Eventually I reached a farm where the Ordnance Survey map indicates that a track passes to the north of the building but in practice footpath signs took me through a narrow gap between the buildings and into a farmyard filled with cows.


Thankfully I managed to safely get away and after a short walk along Green Lane I crossed several wet, grassy fields to reach a gap between fields that the OS Map app directed me along but was clearly not a public right-of-way. Roads instead took me to Sycamore Farm where a path through grassy fields took me to the edge of Kevin Quarry. Ahead of me now was a view of the Weaver Hills and the promise of reaching these hills spurred me on through further difficulties with the path, weaving a course between various limestone quarries and battling overgrown bramble until finally I reached the foot of the hills. The prescribed route doesn’t climb the Weaver Hills, but I have wanted to climb these hills ever since I first saw them on a map while trying to find the closest hills to my home, first in 2009 and then again during lockdown. Initially I had been looking for the nearest hill more than a thousand feet high and although the Weaver Hills lost out to Alport Height, if I had been looking for the nearest hill twelve hundred feet high then this would have won and significantly the Weaver Hills are considered to be the southernmost hills of the Pennines.


Broad grassy slopes led me slowly all the way up to the windswept summit ridge where I made my way to the trig point that marks the top. The extensive views south were very hazy, while frustratingly west were the quarries that I had just passed but north the views took me into the Peak District. After lunch I headed back down the hill, rejoining the prescribed route and after passing through the village of Wootton I entered the country estate of Wootton Lodge, which is owned by the family behind the JCB manufacturing company. In places the paths were very well signposted but in others they were very sketchy, and surprisingly the public footpath passes very close to the grand seventeenth century country house of Wootton Lodge which was an impressive sight. When I reached Brookleys Lake I was reminded that I had come this way in 2022 and now I followed my steps over the hill and around the edge of Alton Towers Resort, passing the holiday cottages and hotel before dropping down the hill to reach the old railway line at the bottom of the Churnet Valley. A relaxing walk along the disused railway brought me back to Oakamoor and offered me a chance to ponder on the walk, where I had enjoyed the exercise but also where route-finding was so difficult I was frequently checking the map and still I made mistakes.

Thursday 7 March 2024

Cannock Chase Heritage Trail

Saturday 7th October 2023

Apart from my fortnight in the Lake District I did very little walking last summer, so when good weather and a window in my busy schedule coincided I forced myself to take the opportunity and grabbed my rucksack, getting off the train in Cannock. I first came to Cannock Chase in 2021 and I have been back only a couple of times subsequently, so a return visit seemed warranted and a short internet search revealed the existence of a Cannock Chase Heritage Trail, which seemed ideal as it runs between railway stations. However, it doesn’t start right next to Cannock station so first I had to make my way through Cannock until I reached the town centre and the old pumping station at Hall Green where I read up on the history of the area before setting off through the town centre and back to the railway station, but I was already finding that the Heritage Trail was not very well signposted and the map from the District Council website was also not very helpful. Therefore, I relied on an Ordnance Survey map and wandered around vaguely heading in the right direction going wherever I wanted, whether I was strictly on the trail or not. For example, after passing the railway station I entered Mill Green and Hawks Green Nature Reserve and immediately climbed up onto the embankment the runs alongside the railway line to walk through the beech wood rather on the tarmacked path that soon brings you out of the reserve and onto a busy road.


I had an enjoyable walk through the woodland making my own way through the reserve until finally I emerged at the northern end onto the busy road which I now followed to a roundabout where a cycle path took me through Anglesey Nature Reserve and into the town of Hednesford. A walk through the town centre brought me to the railway station, but just before I reached there I turned right past a superstore and entered Hednesford Park. The last traces of invasive balsam was the only flowers to linger in these parks and reserves at this time of the year and provided me with some interest as I made my way through these municipal areas, but I longed for more natural environments like the woods and moors of Cannock Chase. Eventually my wish was granted as I crossed the railway line and took a path that led me through Brindley Heath as I slowly climbed into the Cannock Chase Country Park passing through an area that I remember previously walking in 2021. I was now beginning to see signs marking the Heritage Trail, but rather than be clear, they appeared to be in the process of being removed or perhaps they were being replaced. Fortunately I was still able to follow the route with a map and since I was now in an area that I had previously walked I was able to make my way through with little difficulty.

By the time I reached the area of the visitor centre the long promised sun was beginning to break through the overcast skies that had lingered all morning, but it would stay rather hazy for the rest of the day. Eventually I left the crowds behind and descended into the Fairoak Valley to walk beside the Fairoak Ponds that I have passed on several previous occasions until on reaching the Stonybrook Ponds I turned right to climb away from the main Cannock Chase area and onto a road. Now, I followed a footpath beside Rising Brook, which was decorated with invasive balsam whose sweet smell added to the air as I slowly made my way into Hagley Park on the outskirts of the town of Rugeley. All that remained for me from there was to find a way through the town that eventually brought me to Rugeley Trent Valley railway station and the end of the Cannock Chase Heritage Trail. This was a disappointing walk since most of it passed through man-made areas that were just not interesting enough for me, while Cannock Chase itself was all familiar territory so also nothing special. However, at a time when I was struggling to find the motivation to get out for a walk this was exactly what I needed and I was prompted after this to start going out for walks in my local area as often as possible, which provided me with the recuperation and healing that I needed after a summer of stagnation.