Photograph Gallery Stage 51 Rugeley to Lichfield : Walking Englishman's 1000 Mile Walk

Photograph Gallery Stage 51 Rugeley to Lichfield

Posted by Mike on Thursday, September 8, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Photograph Gallery Stage 51 Rugeley to Lichfield, Thursday 14th July 2011

The Story:

After the dire walk on the diabolical Staffordshire Way yesterday I feared more of the same but to my surprise and total delight I walked just over 11 miles on good well marked tracks, in beautiful scenery, in great weather and in marvelous company with Strolling Steve and the gentleman Ken Brockway.

The three of us left Rugeley and the Staffordshire Way behind (never to be walked on again) to find the Heart of England Way in Chetwynds Coppice. We were immediately heartened by the lovely woodland and easy generous tracks through it. Strolling Steve and I sighed instant relief, Ken was pleased too after we had told him the horror stories of yesterdays stage. Chetwynds Coppice was lovely and from there we climbed to a trig point at Wanton, towering at a heady 199 metres! The big hills were well behind us now but the walking was still nicely undulating as we made a pleasant journey through beautiful Cannock Chase. Deciduous woodland walking, penetrated by sunshine creating ever changing shadows always makes walking pleasurable and time pass quickly and before we knew it we were leaving Cannock Chase at Castle Ring Fort, a 2000 year old sunken circle with a surrounding banked ridge. Ken, Strolling Steve and I took a break there and had two encounters, the first with a pretty lady from Florida, now living in England as her husband explored for gas, in Blackpool! The second was with a chap who walked past us toward the hill fort with a garden fork in his hand. “You’re not going to dig it up, its been there 2,000 years” Strolling Steve exclaimed. “No, I am exploring a nearby flint find” he replied. The man in question was Roger Knowles, Historian and Archivist who went on to tell us more on the history of the site and he also told us the amazing fact that we were stood at the highest point for miles and that by looking east from this point we were in direct line of sight to the Russian Ural mountains. Incredible.

From Cannock Chase we continued our journey to Lichfield via clearly marked and easily accessed tracks, lanes and fields with a little road thrown in for variety. Crops we passed between included wheat, maize, runner beans and potatoes; we could become self sufficient in a crisis. (note – the only grumble: Why are kissing gates so tight? Walkers with backpacks struggle to get through them, especially large backpack like ours. Some of the tighter Kissing Gates actually become a hurdle) We walked through the villages of Gentleshaw, Creswell Green and the quirkily named Farewell. Then we came to the Abnalls and caught our first sight of the three spires of Lichfield Cathedral. A few more fields, a road crossing, a path by a golf course, Morrisons car park and a short walk up a road later and we were beside our hotel. After thanking Ken for his brilliant company (we shall walk together again) we were done, the end of a marvelous days walking was over.

Strolling Steves Daily Statistics:

Scenery: 7/10 – Pleasant scenery with deciduous woodland in Cannock Chase.

History: 5/10 – Iron age fort, Lichfield Cathedral.

Interest: 6/10 – Plenty to ponder.

Track: 8/10 – Easy walking and well marked.

Comment: A nice day out.

The Photographs: