The National Forest Way, stage nine

Monday 5th May 2015

Rosliston to the Branston Water Park

Last spring I was making my way along the National Forest Way, a trail that had recently been created through the National Forest that had just celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Unfortunately, for trees, twenty years is not very old and most are still not mature at that age, and most of the trees that I encountered on this walk have been planted much more recently. I had walked the previous stage just nine days before, but with a bank holiday available where I had nothing else planned I set off on the next stage all the way over to the Branston Water Park, near Burton Upon Trent. This is a former gravel pit that has been flooded and transformed into a large lake teeming with wildlife surrounded by woodland, wetland and wildflower meadows. When I arrived there were lots of birds sitting by the shore of the lake seemingly oblivious to my passing as I walked around the lake to the northern tip of the park where I found the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Leaving the water park behind I turned right and headed along the towpath towards Burton Upon Trent, which is famous for its breweries and soon several large buildings appeared on the other side of the canal bearing the names of well-known ales. At Shobnall Marina I turned off the canal and headed into the centre of Burton where I caught a bus to the nearby town of Swadlincote. On the previous stage of the National Forest Way I had planned on catching a bus to Swadlincote from Rosliston, but was unable to and so now that I was finally able to cover the ground that I’d missed. With the aim of seeking out every wood that I could find I headed east out of the town centre towards what seems to be a young wood that is marked on my map as Swadlincote Woodlands. This is situated on a steep slope and after a short, sharp climb brought me to a viewpoint below a radio transmitter where there were views across the town and towards the Trent valley.

Coming back down the hill I made my way over a main road and behind the back of the Ski Centre until I reached Gresley Common where mature trees provided a relaxing walk in the lovely sunshine. Dandelions and daisies covered the grassy borders and kept me going beyond the common along the road until I finally came to a path that took me into the large Gresley Wood. This is mostly a young wood, typical of the National Forest, with little of interest, but at the southern end of the wood I came upon Swainspark Wood, which is an established wood. However, rather than enter that wood I turned north-west and followed a footpath alongside a railway line down to High Cross Bank. A long section of road walking brought me to the outskirts of the village of Linton where I turned right to walk beside Badger Wood. This part of the walk left little impression on me as I passed through the village of Caldwell and eventually returned to the Rosliston Forestry Centre.

This was where I had ended the eighth stage of the National Forest Way nine days before and now I resumed my trek passing through the village of Rosliston and into a new woodland plantation. A lake at the far end of the new wood provided some momentary interest before the Way plunged through an endless series of fields, many of which were covered in dandelions. Eventually I reached the village of Walton-on-Trent and on the far side I crossed the River Trent beside a temporary Bailey bridge, built in 1974. Just after Walton Bridge I turned north to walk between the river and a bleak, featureless pit that used to be a clay pit, but which according to signs is at the start of a long process to turn it into a wetland centre, not unlike the Branston Water Park that I was heading towards.

My walk up the Trent valley between the tranquillity of the river and the desolation if the clay pits eventually ended as I moved away from the river to the busy railway line that runs into Burton Upon Trent. After following the line for a while I crossed over on a bridge and on the outskirts of Branston crossed under the busy A38 road finally reaching the Branston Water Park to end this stage of the National Forest Way. I must admit that I was losing interest in this walk and in the whole trail. Once I had left Gresley Wood there was little to interest me and little to keep me going except stubborn determination. The weather that been good early in the day, but had deteriorated so that while I was on the trail grey skies matched my mood. I had started on this trail almost a year earlier and it had maintained my interest while passing through North-West Leicestershire, but since reaching the Conkers Centre I was becoming tired of the National Forest Way.