The Churnet Valley in early autumn

Saturday 8th October 2022

After many visits over the preceding twelve months, but none in the last five months, I was keen to make a return visit to the Churnet Valley, in Staffordshire, just outside the Peak District. So I drove there and parked at a place I’d not visited before, at the RSPB car park for the Coombes Valley Nature Reserve, but since I’d never been there before I didn’t know there was a parking fee so I didn’t have the necessary change and I had to set off on my walk without paying. Thankfully, I was able to pay the parking fee when I returned from my walk. Initially I was walking along a path that is marked as the Young woodland loop, but there are many paths through the reserve and soon I branched off onto the Valley woodland trail. I previously visited this reverse on New Year’s Day when it wouldn’t have been at its best so I was keen to see it before the leaves dropped, but I must return again so I can see it in spring. The trail descended to the valley bottom, across Combes Brook and up the eastern bank on a path that was quite wet after the recent heavy rain, which made the wooden boardwalk rather slippery. Nevertheless, I was enjoying the walk through the woodland and soon I was back down to the bottom of the valley where I joined the Woodcock trail, which I had walked on at the beginning of the year.

Unfortunately the views across the valley were disappointing, despite blue skies overhead, due to a lack of a good viewpoint. Eventually a narrow path took me back down to the bottom of the valley at a delightful crossing of the stream that must be a magical place in the spring. I am disappointed I didn’t visit this reserve last spring. I ignored the continuing Woodcock trail and left the reserve taking a path that crosses several grassy fields that provided me with views to the Churnet Valley on my left. Despite the blue skies overhead it felt like there was misty rain in the air at this point, which was a bit worrying as I hadn’t anticipated rain, but maybe the rain was being carried on the wind, or off the wet ground. After passing through Upper Fernyhill Farm I descended to the bottom of the valley on the outskirts of Cheddleton and after passing the railway station for the preserved Churnet Valley Railway, I joined the towpath beside the Caldon Canal on a familiar route that I remembered walking on New Year’s Day. The bank of the canal was noticeably overgrown in comparison to the beginning of the year and there was a strong smell of invasive balsam even though there was no sign of the pink flowers. At Consallforge, I ignored the Black Lion Inn and kept to the western bank along a road that took me into Consall Nature Park.

I had wanted to visit these woods on New Year’s Day, but I had to leave them out as I was running out of daylight. This time there was no such problem and I headed off into the woods following white ringed posts that took me to the car park where I stopped at a picnic table and had my lunch. After enjoying a rest in the sunshine I set off, continuing to follow the white ringed posts down into the bottom of the valley where I took many pictures of the pretty little stream, though I have no idea for what purpose. The White Walk continued steeply up the side of Far Kingsley Bank to a fantastic viewpoint across Consall Woods. It has been interesting to compare the changing colours of this view across the year from my first visit in January to later in May when the leaves were fresh on the trees to now when the trees were just starting to change colour before dropping their leaves. Beyond that point I left the White Walk to follow purple ringed posts for a steep descent down a series of steps that led me out of Consall Woods and to the bottom of the Churnet Valley. After crossing the river and the railway line I followed the canal briefly before taking a path through Crowgutter Wood, which I had passed through several times in the spring. It was great to climb through this wood again even though the path was very muddy, despite the lack of rain over the summer, thanks to the heavy rain of the last month.

At the top of the path I returned to my route of New Year’s Day and retraced those steps through a delightful wood beside the Collyhole Brook that has no official right-of-way but does have a wonderful narrow path. A road and a track took me to a crossing of paths where I turned left onto a route that took me through Whitehough Wood and back to the Coombes Valley Nature Reserve. I was now back on the Woodcock trail at the delightful crossing of the Combes Brook and this time I kept to the trail following it high above the western bank of the valley along a good path that eventually brought me back to the car park. Although this walk was inspired by the one that I did on New Year’s Day, it was not exactly the same though essentially in the reversed direction. It let me see the Coombes Valley again when there were leaves on the trees and took me back into the Consall Nature Park that is becoming an obligatory destination for me now whenever I am in the Churnet Valley. I had been to this area so many times in the twelve months leading up to and including this walk that I suppose you could say that I had fallen in the love with it. It is rich in many diverse plants and woodland that provides me with the wild scenery that I love with the steep gradients that I find so invigorating. I hope I never stop returning to this magical place.