Bednall to Lapley

Once more into the breach. This was undertaken on Friday 4th March 2005 and once again we struck lucky once again with the weather in that it was cold but dry, once again. Because we are now nearer to home our walks are starting that much earlier. I parked my car alongside All Saints Church at Lapley and we drove to Bednall in Coddy's starting on foot at about 10 am. After about half a mile we were into the fields on the Teddesley estate and amongst names which were familiar to us Walsall lads. Teddesley Hall was built by the first Lord Hatherton, Sir Edward Littleton in the middle of the 18th century, and we have in Walsall a street named after each of those names. What the connection is with Walsall I don't know at the time of writing. The hall no longer exists but was built from the proceeds of a hoard of money found in the family home of Pillaton Hall near Cannock. £15000 went a long way in those days! The estate is now a mixed farm with sheep pastures and oak woods.
Soon enough we found ourselves moving south east on the Staffs and Worcester canal towards Penkridge a distance of 1.5 miles. Some dredging was being carried out on this stretch in readiness for the invasion of private and hired narrow boats at Easter which comes early this year. We left the canal at the Boat Inn and resisted the temptation to enter as it was still quite early, but five minutes later went in the White Hart where we had a pint of Bass I think it was. Having left there we walked north west for a short distance along the A449 and over the river Penk which is unusual in that it is one of the few north flowing rivers in England. We then turned left down a lane towards Preston Vale. It was on this section that we were pelted with hail and sleet for about 10 minutes. I hadn't got my waterproofs on and struggled to get my top out of the rucksack and put it on without stopping, this because the others won't wait for you you know. You just have to run and catch up. It had stopped by the time I had got it on. A short while later we rested for lunch. I took this opportunity to show the others my Vango storm shelter (see photo). I bought it for use in the Lakes but as I explained to them if one of them fell down and broke a leg they would be glad to shelter in it whilst waiting for help. Didn't stop them from being highly amused.
The next part of the walk took us through the hamlet of Mitton and into Bickford Meadows Nature Reserve through which you walk on raised planks of wood due to the boggy nature of the terrain. We could have done with a lot more raised planks of wood in earlier walks! This spot I'm sure would be a very pleasant place to visit later in the spring when the vegetation is a bit higher and the trees in leaf. Passing through the gently undulating countryside we were now able to see our goal in the distance, the church at Lapley. Prior to this final stretch we had been surprised at how clean we had kept our boots but the final path to the church had been churned up by the hooves of horses walking the path and we eventually arrived at the car with the usual inch or two of claggy mud on the soles. Lapley is a lovely village and it would have been very pleasant to have finished the walk with a pint in the Vaughan Arms which we have visited in the past but we didn't. Another time perhaps. The walk had taken us about four hours and 10 miles according to the GPS. Very pleasant indeed and looking forward to the next which takes us close to the West Midlands conurbation. Still you can't have everything.