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.