A very lazy wind

Distance: 21 km (13.05 mi)
Time: 3 hours 48
Average speed: 5.53 km/h (3.43 mph)
Weather: windy

A lazy wind is one that is just to lazy to go around you.

This was another walk from work at Rugeley to home at Stafford. I took the easy route along the canal side because it was the first long-ish walk of the year. I'd come down with a case of the lurgi last November and it came back for a 2 week encore at Christmas.

February is earlier than I'd usually start my Friday afternoon walks home but I need to get into shape and the weather forecast looked OK. I should have paid more attention to the wind speed.

It was sheltered through Rugeley, but between Rugeley and Wolsey Bridge, Wolsey Bridge and Colwich, Little Haywood to Shugborough and Haywood Junction to Milford there was no hiding place. Still, rather that than rain.

So here I am with various bits aching like it had been twice that distance. Just 3 months to go.

Keswick To Barrow 2011

Apparently our team has been accepted. Time to start training!

Some numbers

Statistics as recorded by my GPS from March to December 2010.

Total distance: 808 km (503 mi)
Total time: 166 hours
Average speed: 4.86 km/h (3.02 mph)
Average distance per walk: 15.56 km (9.85 mi)

Less Icy

Distance: 15.8 km (9.82 mi)
Time: 3 hours 17 minutes
Average speed: 4.81 km/h (2.99 mph)

The paths weren't like ice rinks this morning. A few days worth of being above zero took care of that, although it had refroze last night. I didn't lose my footing once.

Again starting from Chase Road Corner I headed past the German cemetery, then on to Brindley Heath. For a change I then headed towards Hednesford and bypassing the Pine Cafe I reached my former place of work. Back in 2005 they moved us back to Rugeley and sold the site to some developers, but it's only this year they've finally demolished the old building.

I followed the footpath around our old site and up around the golf course to where it crosses over the last hole. Then downhill to Maquis Drive. This the reverse of the way I've done the route before. I crossed the road and the railway line and walked up Kitbag Hill to the Visitor Centre. The poor National Service buggers who had to do it in full kit have my sympathy.

According to the Met Office, this mild weather is a brief respite and the snow could well be back in force next weekend.

Icy Cannock Chase

Distance: 6.63 km (4.12 mi)
Time: 1 hour 31
Average Speed: 4.37 km/h (2.72 mph)

Mid November I came down with the lurgi and spend two weeks at home trying to stay warm. Now that I've recovered I ventured out onto Cannock Chase this morning but didn't stay long. It wasn't that I was still ill, out of condition (just a bit) or that it was too cold. It was the lack of grip.

There's a weeks worth of snow frozen solid with a light layer of loose snow on top. Combine that with a temperature hovering around freezing and you have to be very sure of your footing. I kept to the edge of the paths, the ice rink in the centre was just too risky.

So just a short loop. From Chase Road Corner to Coppice Hill, then down the old Tackeroo line and around Brocton Coppice to the stepping stones. From there the picturesque walk up the Sherbrook Valley to the place where the path kinks away from the Sherbrook where I took the direct route back to the car. Chilly, but a lovely clear sky.

September to November

I've been walking but not blogging. The Sunday morning walks have been mainly on the Chase, but I've been up the Wrekin twice and around the Roaches once in late September.

Craster

Craster with Dunstanborough Castle

Distance: 12.8 km (8 mi)
Time: 2 hours 39
Average speed: 4.8 km/h (3 mph)

After Friday's fiasco today's walk was going to be less ambitious and much flatter. I decided on a coastal route and picked one that started at Craster and went south past Howick to Longhoughton before returning cross-county.

If last week was late summer, this week is definately autumn. A nice heavy rain and a strong wind blowing from inland. The car park at Craster was half-full, meaning there was about 50 car loads of other idiots somewhere nearby.

Craster is famous for two things; the kippers (very nice) and the ruins to the north (see above). For a change I was headed south.

The coastal path from the harbour rises gently until it is following the top of a low cliff overlooking the rocky shore. This is where the Whin Sill meets the sea so there is very little sand.

I past a forlorn looking flock of sheep. Periodically one of them would grow tired of being wet and attempt to shake itself dry. All this resulted in was a fine mist cloud briefly surrounding the sheep.

I met two walkers coming the other way on the coastal path, one with a large rucksack. They had the look of men who could hear the Jolly Fisherman calling so I did not detain them.

Thankfully the rain eased off and settled down to a fine drizzle that came and went on a whim, allowing most of me to start drying off.

There was a surprise waiting for me above the Howick Burn Mouth. I planned the walk by looking at the map and only skimmed the accompanying text, so I did not expect to find a reconstructed stone age hut on the cliff overlooking the mouth. It was based on excavations nearby of a hut dating from c8000BC, erected in 2000AD.



Crossing over the Howick Burn it was clear the Whin Sill was behind me as the beaches were now sandy. No sunbathers, though.

At Howdiemont Sands I headed inland to Longhoughton, then north across fields to the road that passes Howick Hall. The Hall is owned by a descendant of the second Earl Grey (local hero in these parts) and where my father went camping when he was in the Scouts.

From the entrance to Howick Hall it was back onto footpaths across country. You can see more bits of the Whin Sill poking out of the ground, forming hills and cliffs. Craster itself sits in a gap between two cliffs formed by the Sill and the car park used to be a quarry.

A much easier, if wetter, walk than last week. I go back down south tommorrow, so I guess I'll be back on the Chase come Sunday.