Cannnor one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Cannnor here.

An enjoyable walk along lanes closed to traffic and mostly safe pavements some major road crossings need care but we are all sensible so no worries. I would however suggest that the route would be better to go via Five Ways.

Plotted by a Slow Way Volunteer, I was that volunteer who created this route at 5pm on 28th April 2020 back then it was named Cannor, I see Canary Wharf—North Woolwich bagged that name.

So here I am dropping of the fourth bus of the day having left home at 6.40 am. David Sanderson, bless him, gave it a good review so I’m hopeful. It certainly didn’t look good on the map lots of road walking.

We start from a small smart green in Norton Canes a name I associate with canals, not one in sight from here, but a boating connection, I’ll leave you to work that out but the clue is Jerome’s Colliery. An excellent start along a wide green corridor part of an old rail route that served Coppice Colliery, shame it doesn't continue to Five Ways but it is a popular walk that ends alongside a pond.

A bit of pavement walking and here I would now recommend staying with this to Five Ways. The bridleway was difficult to locate and a bit messy but after turning northwards it’s a pleasant green track although this is unrecorded. So if you have continued to Five Ways take Cannock Road then Newlands Lane which the plot soon meets.

Clearly an old tarmac road but no longer available for traffic and no evidence of motorbike use so a very pleasant path. It eventually meets a proper road but even here traffic was light which was good as there was no pavement.

Back on Cannock Road there is an inn but at 4 miles a break may not be required. Here there is a pavement and a grass strip offers additional distance from the traffic. At the roundabout the light controlled crossing is on the north side which is annoying because we and the meeting point at the station are on the south side. There is another light controlled crossing as we approach the walk end. I did continue to the meeting point on the south bound platform but as I had no plan to continue by train it did appear a little otiose. Isn't the synonyms feature wonderful.

I set off from Norton Canes, not sure whether I should have waited for a bus home instead. It was my second day in a row of walking routes and the second of the two I'd walked that day had gone so badly that I'd ended up having to devise a new, longer route from Great Wyrley to Norton Canes. I was tired and a little foot weary but decided I'd throw myself on the mercy of this walk to complete that day's set of Cannock walks. I'm so pleased I did! You enter a woodland path through a small green with benches opposite the meeting point. It transpires the owner of the local mine "Jerome" was the father of Jerome K Jerome. The woodland path is well used and friendly and backs on to houses. It sweeps around (I had to dodge round a family of swans!) and emerges on the Hednesford Road, the pavement of which you follow for 400m approx before turning into Stokes Lane. I had some misgivings about following a single track lane but these proved unfounded. I only encountered one car and that was at the end of the lane just before I entered it. As for walking the lane, it is potholed and was strewn with flytipped rubbish near the east end. The route from there to where you join the A5190 seems to be a series of old tracks, mostly tarmacced. Once used for the mines? But now utterly quiet save for birdsong, the rumble of the nearby road and the rustle of the wind through the leaves. I really loved the solitude. The last section before emerging on the pavement of the A5190 requires a stretch of road walking in the lane. There is space to step into at the side. The last stretch of the walk is along the busy A5190 but it seems like this route has done everything it can to prevent you from having to do that so it's a small price to pay. You pass a number of pubs, supermarkets and takeaways (as well as a designer outlet!) on the way in to Cannock (well, the station anyway). I really enjoyed this walk. Direct, safe, offroad and very easy to follow. Full marks.

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