Saturday 24th May 2015
Branston to Alrewas
In July 2014 I began to walk along the newly opened National Forest Way and by taking it in stages and hardly making any progress during the winter it wasn’t the following May that I was finally preparing to finish the trail. At the end of stage nine I had reached the Branston Water Park from where the end of the trail, at the National Memorial Arboretum near the village of Alrewas, is a relatively short walk along the Trent valley. However the trail still has another three stages to go from Branston as it goes in a wide loop through the ancient Needham Forest before passing through the village of Alrewas until it finally reaches the National Arboretum. I thought I could complete the trail all in one go by taking advantage of this loop to do a full circle and return to Branston up the Trent valley. The main problem that I’d encountered while doing the trail was that the woods that have been planted for the National Forest are still very young so the trees are immature and lack the wildflower undergrowth that for me is the principle attraction of walking in woodland in the spring.
On this walk I passed through the established woods of the Needham Forest and the resulting profusion of woodland flowers was a delight that compensated for my frustrations of the previous stages. Returning to Branston Water Park I set off back around the northern edge of the large lake that forms of bulk of this reserve until I once again reached the Trent & Mersey Canal. On the previous stage I had turned right at this point but now I turned left, however I was keen to take in the views across the lake as long as possible so lingered on the lakeside path as long as possible. Finally I had to tear myself away from the lake and follow the towpath as far as Tatenhill Lock where I crossed the canal and headed between two flooded gravel pits on a delightful path that was lined with the white flowers of cow parsley and hawthorn. On crossing a road the floral delights continued as I plunged into a wood with cow parsley towering over me and many other colourful flowers on the ground.
The path soon brought me out of the wood and steeply up to the top of Battlestead Hill before plunging through more gorgeous woodland teeming with flowers into the village of Tatenhill. The walk continued through fields that were covered in buttercups with red clover adding to the colour palette and making this a truly memorable stage of the trail. Further on, beside a road, was a narrow wood filled with an abundant array of wildflowers including red campion and bluebells so that by the time I reached Rangemore I was so thoroughly enthused by the amazing delights of the Needham Forest that I didn’t want to leave and yet could hardly wait to see what more was in store for me. However, I had already seen the best and from now on the walk quickly deteriorated. Stage eleven of the National Forest Way started at Rangemore and soon descended into mediocrity as I walked for miles skirting around the St George’s Park National Football Centre before walking past the edge of Tatenhill Airfield. The wildflowers of stage ten were a distant memory until I reached the woodland of Jackson’s Bank where bluebells covered the woodland floor and I was once again in delight.
I was reluctant to leave the lovely bluebells, but eventually I turned south and headed through Brackenhurst Wood eventually reaching the River Swarbourn at Far Hoar Cross Farm. At this point I was dumbfounded to read on the directions that I now had to walk beside the road for 1,800 metres, for over a mile, so I reluctantly plodded along until I finally reached Woodhill Farm. On approaching the turning off the road I met a couple who advised me against entering a field with a pack of aggressive cows, so taking their advice I steered clear and safely reached the village of Yoxall and the end of stage eleven of the National Forest Way. With the start of stage twelve I was now on the last stage of the National Forest Way and I was being treated to a reminder of what had been my problem with this trail on previous stages as I soon entered a young wood where dandelions and buttercups were the only flowers and the trees were not very mature.
This stage of the Way never goes far from the River Swarbourn as I followed the route of a pre-existing trail, the Way for the Millennium, passing the pretentious-looking Wychnor Park Country Club and eventually reached the River Trent on the outskirts of the village of Alrewas. The National Forest Way passes through the village and after walking beside busy roads finally enters the National Memorial Arboretum. I had heard criticism of this poor end to the walk, especially about having to walk on a busy road, so I had no hesitation in declaring my walk along the National Forest Way complete at this point and promptly continued to follow the Way for the Millennium on the towpath of the Trent & Mersey Canal all the way up the Trent Valley back to Branston. The tenth stage of the National Forest Way passed through some amazing woodland that featured some of the best woodland flowers that I have ever seen. Unfortunately the rest of the walk, apart from a brief display of bluebells, was a dull tramp and a reminder of the rest of the trail.
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