Basford Green to Alton

This was the third section of the walk and was made on Thursday, 28th December, 2004. The weather forecast was not too good, with a band of rain passing through. Conrad was not with us this time and we took Coddy's and Pete's cars. We left Pete's car at the car park of the Blacksmith's Arms in Alton at about 10.30am having obtained the permission of someone at the pub. Just as well because on getting back to the car we saw a notice which we hadn't seen before threatening wheel clamping to illegal parkers! Having made sure that we were all wearing our walking boots and leaving casual shoes in the Rover (Pete's) we headed off in Coddy's Golf. It rained on the way to the railway station but that was the only rain we saw of any consequence. It was cold but we soon warmed up after we started walking.

We started south on the Caldon Canal and immediately noticed that the Churnet river which runs near to it was quite high and there was flooding in some of the nearby meadows. I hadn't realized how much it had rained overnight. This stretch of the walk is accompanied by the river and the railway track. We passed a few locks and a lift bridge (see photo) and quickly reached the spot by a bridge where the Churnet meets the Caldon Canal. The river was quite swift at this point and a narrow boat would have had to have quite a large throttle opening to stem the flood. I spotted two kingfisher together on the opposite bank of the river, taking flight as we approached, the iridescent green of their feathers flashing in the sun as they flew by. (Nice bit of alliteration there).

We then approached an area which both myself and Pete had visited previously but not together. It is where the river, the canal and the railway meet in close proximity and one comes across the Black Lion pub. It looked so inviting and we were unable to resist the temptation and went inside for a quick pint of bitter. It was approaching noon and we had been walking for only an hour, but you're only young once. It was a nice pint, well kept and served. The open fire was roaring and it would have been a lovely spot to stay for a couple of hours, but we quickly downed our beer and carried on along the Caldon.

I understand that this part of the Churnet Valley is called Little Rhineland or something like that. I haven't been to the Rhine but it was a 'proper valley' as Pete called it. Deep cut and with trees either side. We were on the left hand side tow path but after a while the tow path crossed over to the other side via a bridge. I think they are called 'roving' bridges, so designed that the tow rope attached to the horse in the old days did not get tangled up with the bridge. Eventually we left the canal and crossed the Churnet flowing alongside and below the canal and then climbed (yes climbed, it had all been on the flat up until now) up a quite steep and muddy hill and down the other side. There followed an extremely muddy part of the walk, the muddiest encountered so far, until we fetched up in a little village called Kingsley where we ate our sarnies on a wall next to St Werburgh's church. (I had never heard of St Werburgh so looked it up on the internet and found that she was a devout Saxon princess, a member of the Mercian Royal household. She died in AD698). There is a St Werburgh's Church in Derby.

There then followed an even more muddy part of the walk. We again followed the river for a short time and into a farm by a pool with some swans feeding on it before turning right over a style. The path by-passed the farm yard and house and met a farm track which led uphill to a roadway. The farm house was in a great position looking over open land and the pool towards the valley beyond. I've just taken a look at the GPS track on my Mapsource CitySelect. The road is Oakamoor Road. I think that we crossed the road then (according to the track) and went down a steep downhill section meeting a couple coming up the other way. We then arrived at another road, Stoney Dale where we turned right along the tarmac road (don't like walking them) and then left towards a YHA Hostel. We passed that and then went down a steepish path in a valley passing a geocache named Ramblers Treat. I didn't go in search of it because the others didn't seem too enthusiastic (probably because they hadn't a clue what a geocache is, have you?). We then arrived at Red Road and found a very nice roadside restaurant called...Ramblers Retreat which we passed and started another climb beyond it.

It wasn't far from this spot into Alton itself. We joined the road in Alton at a pub the name of which escapes me. I had entered the Blacksmith's Arms as a waypoint so it was going to be easy to find our way back to it but Pete, embarrassingly, asked someone the way. You don't do that do you? Not when somebody with you is holding a GPS in their hand. You can't take 'em anywhere. I took a photo of Coddy outside the little circular gaol in Alton at 3.53pm. The good people of Alton had placed a nativity scene inside it. Very nice. The next section brings us to Uttoxeter and beyond which will be completed, hopefully, on Friday, 7th January just before Pete jets off to Miami for a month. Jammie beggar. By the way this section of the walk was 11 miles.