Abbots Bromley to Denstone

10 September 2010 - Abbots Bromley to Denstone

Distance - 14.7 miles

Weather - Overcast

We stayed at - Heywood Hall, College Road, Denstone, Staffordshire, ST14 5HR Cost - £75.00

We made a decision first thing this morning, which was that we wouldn't walk 1.5 miles back into Abbot's Bromley to rejoin the Staffordshire Way, instead we'd take the road to Dunstal and rejoin the SW at Bagot's Park. It seemed like a good plan until we got to Dunstal and found that the road to Bagot's Park was a private one. I had to explain the significance of this to Alistair, who is used to Scotland's open access policies. He didn't understand that in England this was considered trespassing. By this time though, we had walked a mile, would have to walk a mile back, then walk a further 1.5 miles into Abbots Bromley. We decided that in the circumstances we would carry on walking up the private road until or unless we were stopped by someone. We did meet a couple of vehicles going the other way and a man walking his dog, but none of them said anything to us. Needless to say it was perhaps the longest and most uncomfortable bit of walking I have experienced. Along the way, we passed the very picturesque Squitch House, which I told Alistair not to photograph, as it provided further evidence of being somewhere we shouldn't have been! I'm hoping that some three years on, and the fact that we never did anything other than use their tarmac, if the the owners of the private road read this blog they might forgive us!

Bagot's Park was not very pretty, just lots of huge fields. It was windy, a situation exacerbated by the scarcity of hedges and trees to provide any shelter. Unfortunately a lot of today's walk was a bit uninspiring. The way into Uttoxeter was quite intriguing though, as we seemed to follow little back alleys all the way into the centre of town, where we left the Staffordshire Way to go and find some lunch. The town was packed and it was only because a very kind old couple let us share their table in a bakery, that we were able to get something to eat. We learned that they had both lived in Norfolk, so we had something in common to chat about over lunch. They also told us to look out for the new JCB Academy at Rocester.

We left Uttoxeter on the Staffordshire Way, which wound its way through a small industrial estate and the race course car parks. Again, it wasn't the most scenic of walks. The fields forming the floodplain for the River Dove were having more drainage installed, so we had to dodge mechanical diggers on the way to the A50 crossing. There was the usual dismal pedestrian underpass filled with litter and used tissues, alongside the poor old Dove Bridge. Crossing under this busy road though, resulted in us leaving Staffordshire and entering into Derbyshire. From here we headed north, mostly through quiet fields, although at one stage it led us straight through the middle of a gun club, which was quite scary.

We lost the path for a bit on the approach to Rocester, as we carried on following the river instead of the footpath. We soon got back on track though, passing by the new JCB academy. I loved this building, which had been formed from an old mill. It was a great mix of the old and the contemporary. We stopped at the pub in Rocester for a quick drink before heading up to Denstone. When I was planning the route this pub had been shut and I couldn't find any accommodation in Rocester, but had come across Heywood Hall on the web and decided to stay there. After leaving the pub at Rocester, we passed JCB's World HQ, which was very big and had its own fishing lake.

We arrived in Denstone about half an hour before our guest house opened, so we wandered up to the local pub, which was shut. We sat outside the pub until it started raining and became too cold and miserable. Our hosts though were very kind and let us in early. When I had booked, they told me we would have a suite. I took this with a pinch of salt, but in reality we had our own wing of the house, with a corridor, separate bathroom, bedroom and kitchen/lounge. The kitchen was really well stocked and the deal was you cooked your own breakfast using whatever was in the fridge or cupboards. The owners even said we could take whatever we wanted for a picnic the next day at no extra charge. We could have ventured out into the garden and used the hot tub, but instead we just stayed in our little flat, venturing out only for a splendid meal at the now open pub.