For an OS map of today's walk (8.30 miles; 13.36 km; 647 ft total ascent), click here.
[This post will be a bit sketchy since my notes were in the journal I left at a B&B].
Today's walk was absolutely beautiful, on the clearest, sunniest day we've had so far. We encountered many different types of path and landscape, which made it an excellent walk.
After grabbing a lunch from a Co-op and walking across Penkridge, we fairly quickly got onto a canal path that had beautiful homes on either side. This was our second canal of the walk: the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal. We found a bench that seemed to be open for people to sit on, so we did.
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| On the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal in Penkridge |
One of the canal boats had three spaniels on it, which were very cute!
Our canal walk took us under a motorway, the British equivalent to an interstate freeway in the U.S. I said that the tunnel definitely looked modern compared to the ones we usually walk through.
The Staffordshire way left the canal just when we arrived at Georgie's Canal Cruises, a company that hires boats but also does special two hour dining cruises. We asked if they sold drinks or snacks on shore, and they didn't really, but a kind woman asked her boss, and she got Ken a Coke from off the canal boat. I was able to use the onshore bathrooms, for which I was thankful. We sat and watched the canal boat fill with people and then set off down the canal on their lunchtime cruise, which was fun.
With a bit of trepidation, we set off across fieldpaths on the Staffordshire Way again. The first field was ploughed, but walkable.
The second field was planted with some kind of grass or grain, and we aimed for an old oak.
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| An ancient oak |
Ken had read that there were some thousand-year-old oaks on the walk, and this looked like it might have been one of them. We got to the oak, sat down in the sun, and just enjoyed being outside. We could hear the skylarks singing, and it was incredibly peaceful.
We continued on the Staffordshire Way through another field, and then road-walked to Bednall.
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| Ken's favourite type of field path |
The church had a fun cart of things for sale outside. The village itself had won the best-kept village award in the past, and was competing again. We heard three separate lawn mowers going, and the gardens, houses, and public areas were immaculately kept.
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| Bednall Church |
After Bednall, we ascended higher and higher on a sun-dappled path between an avenue of trees and beyond that, a belt of woods.
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| Up the avenue toward Cannock Chase |
Our walk eventually led us to Cannock Chase, a large Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which featured both woods and heathland.
It was truly beautiful. It was such a bright, sunny day, because of which we saw lots of people and families out for a fun walk or bike ride. I even tested out the stepping stones over the Sher Brook!
We arrived to a warm welcome at The Coach House B&B in Milford. Our kind host Elaine served us tea and cake on arrival and we had a really nice chat. After a short spell in the garden, we settled in to our beautiful room for a restful night.
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