Kidbid three

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A remarkably straightforward, safe and offroad route. Although it looks on paper like two sides of a triangle the simplicity and paved nature of the first two thirds might make up for it. It's not far from the meeting place in Biddulph to the old railway track, leading to Stoke, popular with dogwalkers and cyclists as well as fellow walkers. You leave the main line but soon find yourself following what seems like an old branch line to Packmoor, where there is a brief bit of pavement pounding. Accessing the footpath through to the fields from the High Street is strangely unnerving as it's accessed through an entryway (passage between terraced houses) which has a gate. We spoke to a local who said that the gate is sometimes locked at night. The route across the fields is pleasant and it eventually leads to Birchenwood Country Park where you join another old railway line. This delivers you to Kidsgrove where you leave to get to the meeting place by the station via the back of the Masonic Hall. This route was fun and easy to walk, although some of the stiles were in bad condition. The simplicity of it was appealing (with the exception of the footpath between the houses) and there are great views towards the Potteries throughout. I can't see how it can be improved.

A short walk from the bus station start point in Biddulph took us to a former railway line cycle track route to Brindley Ford, which was very pleasant and had benches and a picnic table along it. There were steps where the track crossed Bull Lane, although you could use a slope for all but one of them.
The path east from here was an easy gravel track which came out by Kidsgrove Athletic FC Development Centre then followed streets to Newchapel.
The footpath into the fields from High Street was not signposted and was difficult to spot. It is through an iron gate and a passageway between houses 7 and 9, directly opposite the bus stop, and the residents tend to lock this gate at night, but it is the correct public footpath, all confirmed by a neighbour. There is no pavement here either, and you pass right alongside the owner’s conservatory and garden, then cross a stile into the field.
By the time we got to these fields it was getting dark, and the lights of Stoke-on-Trent and other local towns were visible on the horizon.
It was a pretty straightforward route across the fields, even in the dark, although there were one or two quite difficult stiles. The stiles around here often don’t have steps, it seems.
By the time we arrived at the next railway line cycle track we needed torches. There were trees along either side, and excitingly, a tunnel to walk through!
From Valentine Road we followed the left footpath through a small car park and out onto the main road by the rather lovely Victoria Hall/Town Hall, then a couple of streets and a canal crossing took us to Kidsgrove Station.

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