Glacial Boulder (Cannock Chase) to Abbots Bromley

Although we were only intending to walk a relatively short section in the middle of the Staffordshire Way, as a link between the Heart of England Way and the Limestone Way, today's walk provided a real feeling of a new start, partly because this was our first mini-break away from home since February 2020, with the long gap caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic. We were staying in the Rugeley Premier Inn, where we had stayed when walking the Heart of England Way - though the adjacent power station cooling towers which made it so memorable last time we were here had been demolished a week ago!

This Premier Inn is well placed for Cannock Chase and it is also close to a Tesco, meaning we could do our own shopping and eat without needing to sit in a restaurant, about which we remain nervous. Unfortunately the air conditioning in the Premier Inn was broken and the windows of our room didn't open, so it was extremely hot (we had been warned and the staff did everything they could to help) but otherwise the arrangements worked well, and it was overcast so not too hot when we were walking. We had loved Cannock Chase last time we were here, so we'd had a short walk there yesterday evening (when the sun had been shining!) and hadn't been disappointed (photos here).

There were various routes we could have taken across Cannock Chase to link from the Heart of England Way to the Staffordshire Way, but we chose to start from the Glacial Boulder because the routes cross here, with a brief shared section (which we last walked on 5th August 2017). Therefore, after driving in both cars to our planned end point in Abbots Bromley and parking one car on the Market Place (SK081246) , we drove back to the Glacial Boulder car park (SJ979182), which is a little tricky to spot on our iPhone Maps App, but quite clearly there on the ground - and with lots of space. The Glacial Boulder (close to the car park) is nothing special, but we were soon on a glorious open section of the Chase, with good views in all directions.

We parted company with the Heart of England Way and headed downhill across the open countryside to a more wooded section of the Chase, where we turned left, close to the Sher Brook. We followed this, heading north, to a ford, then looped around Harts Hill to a large car park near the A513, where a woman told me how much she liked my sun hat (it is very fine, bought at Downton Cuckoo Fair, when we were visiting Helen and Tom in 2018). Unfortunately, whichever route you've followed across the Chase, there is a need to walk along the main road at this stage. There wasn't initially a pavement, but the verge was relatively wide and for the second part of walk there was a pavement, so we negotiated this section safely, before gratefully cutting through onto the Shugborough Estate.

The Shugborough Estate, originally owned by brothers George and Thomas Anson, is now in the care of the National Trust and we visited in the afternoon after our first walk on the Heart of England Way in 2017 (photos here). Today we just walked through the Estate, though we still got views to Hadrian's Arch (a copy of Hadrian's Arch in Athens, built by Thomas in memory of George in the 1760s) and Shugborough Hall on our route to the Essex Bridge at the far side of the Estate. After crossing the River Trent on the bridge we should have turned onto the towpath of the Trent and Mersey Canal, but a short section of the tow path was closed and there was no access. We continued into the village of Great Haywood and turned right on the road, thinking that we would have to walk along the road all the way to the Little Haywood before we could get back to the canal. However, just before the church in Great Horwood, we noticed a paper notice showing routes around the closed path and this implied that there was a way back to the canal here. A mother and son out litter-picking told us that the path did indeed lead to a bridge over the canal but they didn't think there was access to the towpath from there either, but we decided to give it a go.

We walked down to the bridge...and the path down to the towpath was indeed blocked off. However, a women who was on the bridge talking to two others explained that there is a route through the bushes back to the river, and if we turned left there we would then be able to find a route back to the canal, and that's what we did! Shortly afterwards Richard, who had been trying to get through the the residential home where his mother lives since the approach to Shugborough Hall, managed to get through and to arrange a visit for the end of the week. We walked along the tow path for several miles, which was far enough. However the canal was busy with boats which provided plenty of interest.

In particular, there was entertainment to be had at the one lock we passed, south of Little Haywood, where there was a queue of boats in both directions and two day boats creating a bit of a scene, with the competent regular canal-users clearly annoyed with the delay the day boats were causing and the two passengers/supposed lock operators from one of them failing to get back on their boat when told to do so...then being angry with everyone other than themselves when they had to walk along the tow path for a short distance. We passed Colwith and Wolseley Bridge then, after passing the Wolseley Centre and Bishton Hall (where we were puzzled by a flag that might have been at half mast, so felt the need to check that there was no national news that would warrant this) we encountered a "ford" on the tow path; this was an overflow from the canal to the River Trent, right next to us - there was a slightly higher way across for pedestrians, but it was trickier for cyclists. The two cyclists who had just overtaken us were therefore delayed and as we passed them I was anxious they'd then want to come past us again. However there was a convenient and very comfortable seat just slightly further on, carved out of a tree trunk, and we stopped for lunch.

We stayed by the canal for a further mile, passing Taft Farm (associated in some way with the Boaters' Christian Fellowship), Wharf Cottage and (just before Bridge 68, which in turn is just before the canal sweeps round to the right to pass under the A51 to the north of Rugeley) the day boat which had caused the problems earlier, now moored while its occupants had their lunch. We left the canal here and took a path alongside the nearby railway for a short distance, to a footbridge over the railway and so to the road we had driven along earlier between Rugeley and Abbots Bromley. We missed the footpath across the field to Cotton (though it was clear in the opposite direction) so turned right to follow the road into Cotton. I wanted to change my socks for dry ones but couldn't be bothered to walk over to the bench by the Church. Fortunately there were more benches by the village hall, so we stopped there, also admiring the superior children's playground.

We cut across fields to Stockwell Health with its attractive duck pond, but from here the quality of the footpath deteriorated somewhat. The Staffordshire Way is clearly not well walked in this area and there were some overgrown sections - and some stiles which were extremely wobbly and difficult to negotiate. In driving between Rugeley and Abbots Bromley we had been over the causeway over the Blithfield Reservoir, but the Staffordshire Way goes around to the east of it - and they really don't want us mere walkers getting too close (despite the fact that we could see a sailing club right by the reservoir, and later saw fishermen - so how come we would pollute the water when they don't...). So we meandered our way on an unclear path to the south and east of the dam, coming closer to it so as to cross the outfall stream and emerging by the entrance to the sailing club, Amazingly we were allowed closer to the reservoir here (I suspect I went even closer than allowed to get the photograph...)

Since our OS Map was printed in 2015, the Staffordshire Way had been re-routed on the approach to Abbots Bromley, so we were using the OS Maps App too. Nevertheless, with the Church and houses of the village very much in sight, the final approach was particularly challenging. I eventually spotted the signposted stile leading from the field of cows in which we had ended up (I THINK on the correct route), but to get to it I had to get past the cows, wade through mud then negotiate a wobbly stile in a very narrow gap. I eventually managed it, with Richard pushing me and supporting the stile, though my sunhat was left behind on the brambles. Fortunately we were able to rescue it. We were soon in the attractive churchyard, and Abbots Bromley is a lovely village, but come on Staffordshire County Council, surely you can do better than this insult of a walking route in your name.

We were soon back at the car parked next to the Butter Cross on the lovely Market Place and we sat on one of the convenient benches to eat apples before driving back to Cannock Chase to rescue the other car, then on a route across the Chase back to the Premier Inn. Richard went shopping to refresh our provisions and we had an enjoyable meal of cooked chicken, salads, raspberries and strawberries. In the evening we walked the short distance from the Premier Inn to the Trent and Mersey Canal, and we follow it to the west through the outskirts of Rugeley, eventually turning to the right and crossing the River Trent with the canal on the Brindley Bank Aqueduct, and continuing to Bridge 68 where we had left the canal this afternoon, and then retracing our steps. It was a delightful walk, with the sun now out but not too hot, with swans and cygnets and ducks and ducklings for company.

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