Rugkin two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Rugkin here.

A real contrast of paths on this Slow Way, easy level waterside walking and rambling over arable fields with little or no sign of the path and poor stiles. The good news only sheep, no cattle, some roadside walking where a verge offers an escape if needed. Shops etc at Armitage but if not required, best stay on the canal towpath. Chip shop and Inn at Handsacre.

I started at Rugeley having dropped off the bus from Lichfield. A short detour north to meet the canal where a slope offers access while steps provide a direct route, but later this is not a route for wheels. The towpath here has an excellent level surface and is used by 'The Way for the Millennium'.

There is an inn with waterside garden on the edge of Brereton. The signed Armitage Tunnel was once a real tunnel cut through natural stone but this has been opened out and only the wide concrete deck of the crossing road provides short cover.

Another inn, or perhaps two are close by but all closed as I pass by before the canal bends away from the road to avoid the hill on which the church stands. This puts us closer to the railway where the WftM heads off north under the line then over a decorative bridge crossing the Trent, worth a short there and back if you haven't seen it.

Two or more reasons to stay on the canal if you don't need services. Steps up to the bridge then a narrow path between high fences through the factory making that necessity, the water closet, all white, the fashion for colours is out for the time being.

Armitage offers a cross section of services, convenience store, fishing tackle, hair dressing, chemist, post office, buses plus an inn along a busy and noisy road. Just before rejoining the canal there is a chip shop and another inn.

This next section of the towpath is a recorded right of way, other sections are not, so only permissive. The leaving point is marked by a stile and finger post and on the day of my visit others had walked a line across the field which the farmer had failed to do. See section 134 of the 1980 Highway Act. Head for the two pylons if it's not apparent.

The consideration the farmer gives to footpaths and the walking public is shown on entry to the next field where a large pile of manure blocks the path. Later a field of rape has been left to grow and already obstructs the path. But it's not all doom and gloom, there is also a field with the path clearly marked and clear of the emerging crop.

The ground is flat within the wideer valley of the river so the soil is light with large rounded stones ground down over millions of years and movement of glaciers. The path crosses a paddock of hungary sheep over two rather dilapidated stiles, the sheep kept in with electric fencing that makes no provision for the footpath even when erected adjacent to the stile. Again no marked path on the approach to the road where a fingerpost hides in the hedge to confirm I've found the correct point. Faults have been reported via Peak and Northern Footpaths at http://www.peakandnorthern.org.uk/pathcheckers/

A short section of road where the verge can offer a refuge but the tarmac makes for easier walking. Turning the corner offers a pavement alongside an attractive wall with impressive cappings. Kings Bromley offers a small supermarket provided by the Co-Op.

As Rugkin one failed due to dangerous stile, and having walked a lot of Slow Ways in this area, it should have come as no surprise that within the first couple of km I'd be using the Ramblers App to report broked stiles. The start of the walk out of Kings Bromley is fairly functional, following the pavement of a main road. The turn into the A513 requires some verge walking but is mercifully short. But having left the road to join a fairly boggy set of footpaths across fields, my impression that local farmers hate walkers was reinforced by a series of broken, but passable, stiles. On reaching civilisation, the Trent and Mersey Canal at Handsacre, I felt a sense of relief. Suddenly the walk was properly pleasurable. You soon leave the canal to follow the high streets through Handsacre and then Armitage. Both offer a superb range of pubs, cafes and shops. Having reached the far end of Armitage, a footpath takes you back to the canal, just by the famous toilet factory. You cross back to the main towpath via a bridge and from here, it takes you all the way to Rugeley. There are some places of interest, including Hawkesyard Priory. Just by here, the canal goes through a tunnel under the A513 which has been hewn from the sandstone rock. The last section is backed on to by numerous well maintained gardens in the south of Rugeley. The walk from the canal to the meeting place in Rugeley is short and unremarkable. The meeting place itself is right in the middle of the shopping centre and is very handy for the bus station. In summary, this route is direct, safe, enjoyable, interesting and with a plethora of possible stops. It is a model Slow Way. It's only failing is down to the inaction of a farmer, and arguably Staffordshire County Council. It has the potential to be a top level Slow Way.

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