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.