Churnet Valley – Consall Nature Park

Saturday 22nd January 2022

With sunshine forecast I was eager to get out for a walk, but I couldn’t decide where to go. I looked at various options until eventually I decided to just return to the Churnet Valley, despite the fact that this was the one place that was not forecast to be sunny. After driving over, I was back at Froghall Wharf, where I had previously parked in November on my second visit to the Churnet Valley. Walking through the village I turned onto a path that follows the Churnet Way and was soon crossing the river and the southern terminus of the preserved Churnet Valley Railway. Although it looked like I could have walked along the old track bed, the footpath took me through lovely woodland just above the valley floor, which was better even though it was quite muddy. The woodland walk brought me to Ross Lane where I had descended from the village of Whiston on my first visit to the Churnet Valley. On that occasion I had turned south on the route of the Staffordshire Way and Churnet Way, but this time I turned north on the Staffordshire Way climbing out of the valley and was soon getting quite warm, which prompted me to strip off some layers. The terrain on this section of the walk was not great as I passed through grassy fields that may not have been as muddy as the woodland, but was dreary especially under the grey, overcast skies and with a cold wind that soon had me regretting taking my fleece off.

The Staffordshire Way took me through Kingsley Holt and past the village of Kingsley until I reached the edge of Consall Nature Park where a waymarked path with purple ringed posts took me off the Staffordshire Way and down into the valley on muddy paths through glorious woodland. I loved seeing the dramatically steep terrain of Far Kingsley Banks and enjoyed the wonderfully graded path that eased my descent. Almost at the bottom I turned back uphill continuing to follow the purple ringed posts further into Consall Nature Park up a long flight of steps, which was good exercise for me with the reward of fabulous views across the park. Trees dominated the view in all directions, but the grey skies and lack of sunshine robbed it of the magnificence that it justly deserves. It is a shame that I was not seeing the Churnet Valley at its best, which must surely be in the spring when woodland flowers abound and instead I was seeing bare trees under overcast skies. It was very frustrating, but is something that can be corrected later in the year.

Despite very muddy paths I enjoyed walking through the woodland and after the tremendous view white ringed posts took me steadily down to the bottom of the valley. I like the steep ascents and descents of the Churnet Valley and this walk was providing me with plenty of them. When I reached a path junction at the bottom of the valley I turned left now following a trail marked by red ringed posts that took me even deeper into the park, but on much wider and flatter paths than earlier. On reaching the far end the path started to climb up the side of the valley through Upper Ladypark Wood to the northern edge before turning back down to the earlier track. To prevent this I kept high on a narrow, muddy path that didn’t bring down to the bottom until I had reached the junction where I had earlier joined the red trail. Turning towards the visitor centre I climbed up to the car park and followed the white trail past Heron Pool and Lawn Pool all the way back to the bottom of the Churnet Valley. After crossing the river, railway and canal I realised that I was at the point where I had left the canal on my walk back in November that had started from Froghall Wharf.

The rest of the walk was simply to retrace my steps of previously beside the canal all the way back to Froghall Wharf and was a pleasure with a generally good path underfoot, though there was one bit that had deep mud. This walk was generally very muddy, but it was never really wet as the mud was just very soft, which made it difficult to keep a grip especially on steep ground. It is a pity that I didn’t have any sunshine on this walk, especially as that is specifically what had sent me out for a walk and most areas did have sunshine. Nevertheless it was great to be out for a walk in the woods and to stretch my legs climbing the steep valley sides, which is what keeps bringing me back to the Churnet Valley. I wish I hadn’t ignored it for so long.

Churnet Valley – The Coombes and the Devil’s Staircase

Saturday 1st January 2022

After all the rain over Christmas, mild weather over the New Year gave me an opportunity to go for another walk and once again the Churnet Valley drew me back. In seeking for a different place in the valley to walk, I parked just outside the village of Cheddleton and passing through the streets I headed down to the bottom of the valley and the railway station for the preserved Churnet Valley Railway. After crossing the canal, river and railway I climbed the grassy hill opposite and was disappointed that the early morning sunshine had not lasted very long as hazy clouds came over and would stay for much of the day. I was tedious slowly walking through muddy, grassy fields over Ferny Hill but eventually I turned right and entered Coombes Valley Nature Reserve. This is a gloriously wooded, deeply cut valley and rather than sticking to the right-of-way, I decided to take the waymarked Woodcock trail that keeps high above the valley and afforded me with stunning views. Unfortunately this walk was plagued by the sound of gunshot from a nearby New Year’s Day shoot, but the pictures taken on the terrace path are thankfully ignorant of the noise echoing off the valley sides.

I had a fabulous walk through this reserve on a good, relatively dry path that eventually led me to a public footpath where I turned left down to the bottom of the valley. The gunshots were thankfully muffled this deep inside the valley and the scenery around the bridge was delightfully wild and immensely invigorating. Tearing myself away I climbed up out of the valley, but turned left at a junction to stay on the Woodcock trail heading back up the valley. A narrow, muddy path climbed steeply up the side of the valley until I reached a track reminiscent of the one on the other side of the reserve and this slowly descended while providing me with fabulous views until I was back down at the bottom of the valley and on the right-of-way that I had used to enter the reserve. Rather than completing my circle around the valley, I turned right on the muddy footpath to climb up to Sharpcliffe Hall. The footpath continues along the drive to a road junction where I turned right onto a farmer’s track which I followed all the way to Collyhole.

This quaint sounding name comes from the nearby Collyhole Brook where densely packed trees gave the valley a dark and oppressive feeling, but I found a path there through the valley, despite not being indicated on O.S. maps, that I happily took through the overgrown woodland. This narrow path weaved satisfyingly through the woodland and was a joy to walk upon and although it was slightly muddy, it was not as bad as others I had encountered on the walk. On reaching a road I turned left and then right onto a public footpath past Belmont Hall, back into woodland and eventually reached the start of the Devil’s Staircase. Despite being a grand and ominous title, and marked on O.S. maps, this was just an extended series of concrete steps that led me all the way down to the bottom of the Churnet Valley not far from Consall Station. Beside the railway there was a popular pub with an enormous inflatable Santa outside almost as high as the Inn. After crossing the railway line and the canal I headed north even though I had originally planned on entering Consall Nature Park, but I had decided to leave that for another walk.

Instead I walked beside the river on a path that, although it was muddy at times, was always a delight and after a while, the sun finally broke through the hazy clouds so for the last mile of the walk I was able to enjoy some sunshine and blue skies with the gloriously wild scenery either side of the river. I had been considered an extension of the walk into Deep Hayes Country Park, but I didn’t want to do that, so when I reached Cheddleton I decided to head straight back to my car. I felt like I had done enough walking and at that time of the year it wasn’t going to be long before the sun set. I had ignored the New Year’s celebrations so I could get up early and thoroughly enjoyed driving through empty streets and walking before anyone else was awake. This was a delightful and tranquil walk in unusually warm weather and was a great way to welcome in the New Year that I hoped would herald a good year to come.

Churnet Valley – Furnace Forest

Wednesday 22nd December 2021

I am fortunate to usually have the week leading up to Christmas off work when in the past I would go to the Lake District, but this has not been possible for the last two years. For the first two days of my holiday last Christmas I was happy to walk in Leicestershire, but my itchy feet soon wanted more and I found myself heading back to the Churnet Valley which I had visited twice the month before. I loved the area then so it wasn’t surprising that I was back so soon. I had intended on parking beside the Ramblers Retreat Inn, but I missed the turning and ended up in Oakamoor, parking in the same place I had on my first visit. On that occasion I had turned off the prescribed route towards the end, so now I took the opportunity to take the forsaken path that starts south of the village of Oakamoor climbing steeply up Moss’s Bank. This was a great climb that soon warmed me up in the cloud, wintry weather. It had been unusually mild when I was in the Churnet Valley the previous month, but that was not now the case as there had been a frost overnight and it was still very cold and overcast. The path was a little eroded, but brought me up to the top of the trees where I was faced with a choice of paths with the right-of-way, in hindsight, turning right, but instead I turned left into an area of open access.

Despite soon realising that I was off the intended route, I was happy to blindly follow clear paths around the edge of the hill before finally descending on a wide track down to the old mill near the Ramblers Retreat. Now I could start my originally intended route, which is marked on O.S. maps as Staffordshire Moorlands Walks and used to be available on the district council website, but can still be found on the Ramblers Retreat website. Heading up Ousal Dale I retraced my steps of the month before and despite the grey weather it was great to be climbing with the gradient adding much to the appeal of the walk. I believe it is the many steep climbs that is one of the attractions that keep drawing me to the Churnet Valley. When I reached the top of the valley I came off my route of the month before turning left past the building that used to be Dimmingsdale Youth Hostel and is now available for private hire as I discovered when I passed a family outside enjoying a hot tub! Moving quickly past them on the public footpath I descended into Dimmings Dale passing some clearly artificial ponds and turned right onto a track.

After a while I checked the directions and realised that I shouldn’t have crossed the valley and instead I should have taken a footpath on the other side. My track climbs out of the valley, while the footpath I should have been on does not. Despite this I enjoyed the walk up the delightfully wild and tranquil valley until I found a point where I could cross onto the correct path. It was curious that despite the obvious artificial origin of the ponds, they seem to have blended into the environment so well that you can easily ignore their original purpose. As the valley ascended it narrowed to merely a slender stream beside the path until eventually I reached the top where I found a road beside the Old Furnace. The ascent continued up a field and into a wood that is merely an extension of Dimmingsdale Wood and crossing the track that I had earlier taken by mistake I climbed a very muddy path and completely missing the turning out of the wood. It took me a while to realise where I should have gone before eventually I found the path out of the wood that took me across farmer’s fields.

Having just stopped for my lunch, I now felt very cold, so I moved briskly along the path turning sharp left before I reached the hamlet of Newton and slowly began to descend with rain starting just after I entered Dimmingsdale Wood again. I was not expecting rain at this time so this was rather surprising, but it was short-lived and soon after I reached the bottom of Dimmingsdale it stopped raining. Making a careful point of determining which side of the valley I ought to be, I headed down through the fabulous scenery taking many photographs as I slowly descended the gorgeous valley. The colour of the fallen leaves on the ground made this a delightful scene and carried me all the way down to the Smeltingmill and the Ramblers Retreat. I had assumed the proscribed walk would be too short and I would need to extend it somehow, but the rain changed my mind and I returned to Ramblers Retreat later than I had anticipated. All of my walks in the Churnet Valley seem to have taken not much more than four hours, so I was not bothered as I wandered on the old railway line straight back to Oakamoor. The grey, murky weather was not a problem as I enjoyed walking through the stunning surroundings of the Churnet Valley again.

Churnet Valley - Froghall and Ipstones

Saturday 20th November 2021

After the fabulous walk in the Churnet Valley that I had the week before and with the mild weather continuing I was soon heading back to Staffordshire parking at Froghall Wharf, which is an idyllic post-industrial location at the end of the Caldon Canal. Passing the old limekilns, I joined the canal towpath with little idea of where I was going to be walking. I hoped I would get some inspiration while on the trail and fortunately a map at the car park provided just that. The red trail was my initial inspiration and took me beside the canal through the steeply-sided wooded valley where the autumn colour of the trees produced wonderful scenery beside the preserved Churnet Valley Railway that runs close to the canal through the narrow valley. This walk went on for such a long time that I began to get a bit fed up with the unchanging scenery. Eventually I turned off the towpath to climb steeply through Booth’s Wood which was a great climb that warmed me up after the cold start beside the canal, but when the gradient eased I could find no route out of the wood despite being marked as doing so on the map and instead the path clearly veered back down into the wood.

Retracing my steps I tried to find the right route but without success, so in the end I came off the path and climbed up to the fence that marks the boundary. Despite walking back and forth beside the fence I could not find the correct way across it and eventually climbed over as best I could making my way across the field onto the correct right-of-way past Greenwood House. I was on a trail that is marked on OS maps as Staffordshire Moorlands Walks (one of many) and this took me through farmland before descending into a wooded side-valley of the Churnet that was a fabulous place, delightfully wild, but possibly too much so as fallen trees blocked the path and made it difficult for me to cross the valley. After successfully negotiating the obstacles I was back onto the farmed upland and enjoying the sunshine that was finally making an appearance and providing me with some great walking. On reaching a road, now on the green trail, I descended a short way, actually approaching Froghall, but before reaching the bottom of the valley I turned off onto a path that heads into Moseymoor Wood.

However, a sign at the beginning of the path warned me that there was a closed path, so cautiously I made my way along the path which was exceptionally muddy. The first turning I reached was blocked off and marked as closed, so I continued up the valley into Cloughhead Wood and found that the turning for the green trail was also closed due to landslip. With both my options unavailable I continued on the path that climbed out of the valley on a much drier path back onto the road that I had come off earlier. With my plans constantly changing I walked along the road into the village of Ipstones onto another part of the green trail and took a byway called Green Lane that crosses the hillside before descending into the muddy valley that I had been unable to access earlier. With the sunshine now a distant memory I immediately climbed back out of the stunningly wild valley before continuing on the byway up to the village of Foxt. There I abandoned the green trail and dropping steeply down into the stunning valley of Shirley Brook I stayed on the side of the valley to reach the route of an old tramway that used to serve the limekilns of Froghall with limestone from Caldonlow Quarries. This gradually descending track took me all the way down to Froghall Wharf and back to my car.

This walk was rather short for me at only four hours, but with the short hours of winter I decided that this was enough and was actually a similar length to the previous week’s walk in the Churnet Valley. This was an enjoyable walk, though a bit muddy in places, however it passed through many fabulously wild woodland scenes that were a real delight and show why I was developing such a strong love for the Churnet Valley

Churnet Valley - Oakamoor and Whiston

Saturday 13th November 2021

I wanted to take advantage of the warmer than average weather last November and decided that I would take the opportunity to visit an area that I have wanted to go to for many years: the Churnet Valley in Staffordshire. Although outside of the Peak District and easily overlooked, it is a striking area of outstanding beauty with steep gorges and an abundance of woodland and wildlife. I found a walk described on the Staffordshire County Council website around Oakamoor and Whiston that I decided would make a good introduction for me to the Churnet Valley. Parking in Oakamoor, I set off from the car park and picnic site beside the river to a road in the village where I took a track that climbs into Cotton Dell Nature Reserve. I was confused by the directions in this delightfully wooded valley, but with a clear path beside the stream I decided to ignore the directions and enjoy the fabulous surroundings. If I was going the wrong way, then I was going wrong through a wonderful place as I slowly climbed the narrow wooded valley through the stunning landscape until eventually I reached a junction of paths where I decided that this was probably where the directions wanted me to leave the valley, even though it didn’t exactly match, and so I climbed steeply out of Cotton Dell.

Passing a house I continued the climb until I reached a track where I turned sharp right to follow it north above the valley. Despite the warm temperatures, it was largely overcast with only occasional breaks in the clouds when the sun briefly made an appearance. Continuing along the track for more than a kilometre, I eventually turned left soon after crossing a cattle grid up the hill and slowly down the other side. From this point the walk was rather dreary as I followed the now clear directions through many grassy fields until after crossing a golf course I reached the village of Whiston where I turned left onto Ross Lane. This track took me all the way down into the Churnet Valley, but at one point I was faced with a split in the track and I turned left when I should have gone right. When I realised my mistake I crossed the field between the tracks back onto Ross Lane, which had now become a delightful, tree-lined lane and took me down to the bottom of the valley.

After a pause beside Ross Bridge to have my lunch, I set off along the route of the Churnet Way and was soon joined by the Staffordshire Way onto an abominably muddy path beside the River Churnet until eventually I reached East Wall Farm. Good tracks took me out of the valley into the woodland of Hawksmoor Nature Reserve, which was a welcome change after the tedious part of the walk since leaving Cotton Dell. Ultimately it was woodland that had brought me to the Churnet Valley, so any time I was not walking under trees was a disappointment. The autumn is not my favourite season, mainly due to the lack of flowers, but the golden colours to the trees, particularly in Hawksmoor Wood, added to my enjoyment of this walk. After crossing a road I entered Sutton’s Wood where there was a maze of paths that proved tricky to navigate correctly and when I reached the road at the far end it was obvious that I hadn’t kept to the right-of-way.

At the road I stayed on the Staffordshire Way on a track that took me to a junction not far from the former Dimmingsdale Youth Hostel. The directions told me to turn left at this point straight back down into the valley, but I was having too much fun to end the walk already so I decided to keep to the Staffordshire Way heading down Ousal Dale, which was dark and shady, sheltered from the low sun. Soon I was down at the bottom of Dimmings Dale, which was a surprisingly popular area thanks to the car park and tearoom at the Ramblers Retreat. There were stunning views across the pond in the valley with the golden colours of the trees contributing much to the scene and showing the best of the season. At the Ramblers Retreat I crossed Lord’s Bridge over the river and dropped down onto the old track of the Churnet Valley Railway, which was also very popular and so it was astonishing to realise that while I had hardly seen anyone on the prescribed route, once I came off it I saw many people.

Walking along the track of the disused railway I returned to Oakamoor and as a taster or introduction to the Churney Valley this walk made me eager to return to the area. I was in awe of the steep sided, wooded valley and its picturesque scenery, so it wasn’t long before I was making a return visit.