Yoxbur three

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Walked from Burton to Yoxall, before continuing to Alrewas. This review puts me in a difficult position - I walked this one expecting it to be straightforward, but encountered several serious issues all of which were on the section shared with YoxBur one and YoxBur two, and in my view this route is the best of the three. Firstly (and this one should be short term) there are two separate path closure orders affecting the paths around the gravel pits - in fact I was able to ignore the notices, firstly to cross a condemned bridge that is missing several steps on the path from Branston Bridge just before it meets the path up from Tatenhill Lock, just beyond that a section is closed for maintenance of electric cables that involves digging a trench (which is easy to avoid when, like today, no work is actually in progress). Secondly and more seriously, the third stile on the path from Scotch Hills Lane to Sich Lane has a top step which is dangling dangerously, the fence is too high to cross without trusting that step, and a high barbed wire fence prevents any alternative on the field side (picture 11). Having decided to abandon the attempt to cross it, I was forced to retreat and use almost a mile more of the B5016, which I can't recommend though it didn't feel that dangerous. I am reluctant to fail this route because I hope that these problems are short term, and a failure on a second review will hurt it more than failing the snailed version, but I will at least review YoxBur two to add the same comments.

Most of the walk was enjoyable, despite starting it in drizzly rain. From Burton station, the first task is to reach the canal, which this route does safely and efficiently, though the route has plenty of turns thanks to the unhelpful road layout. We follow the canal out of the town, under the A38 and past a large new housing development to reach Branston Bridge (which is immediately after a new bridge serving the new estate which is not yet shown on the OS 1:25000 map). Use the old steps just beyond the old bridge to avoid being forced further east to cross the road.

The way onwards starts along a good track, but is forced right by a locked gate, and most people seem to have opted for walking along the edge of the field rather than using the overgrown initial part of the right of way path. Further on the path is tightly constrained between fences, before reaching the aforementioned damaged bridge. Here we turn right (almost immediately meeting the second closure) then left on a fairly clear path which follows the gravel workings' fence. Further on we join a lane right and after a while you should see a stile on the left which gives access to the path, which is mostly just inside the barbed wire fence protecting another large gravel pit. Eventually we are forced back towards the road, by which time another fence blocks the easiest route out, but this has been trampled and is easy to pass.

The path alongside the road is easy, and we continue through pleasant parkland before rejoining the road through Dunstall, where we turn left just beyond the church to follow a slightly convoluted route through more park land, entirely on good tracks. Forest Road is surprisingly fast and busy, so take care on the short road section, which we soon leave right on the Cross Britain Way. We cross Scotch Hills Lane and should be able to continue on a direct path, but this is where I met the damaged stile (picture 11), so I couldn't complete this section. Not a great advertisement for the group that proudly labelled their new stile.

So having used the roads (not pleasant) I rejoined the route where Sich Lane meets the B5016. We soon turn left into Meadow Lane, then take the field path beyond the houses. Here I met a further obstacle - where the path should go straight across the large ploughed field, a less than clearly worded signpost appears to block us. There is a well trodden path round the south edge of the field but this is a little longer than the direct crossing. Either way we find an overgrown little gap into the allotments, where there is one place where a waymarker would have been useful as we go slightly left.

Once we join the National Forest Way the rest is easy, though the Yoxall meeting point is rather curiously situated in the corner of the churchyard where there is neither a bench nor a bus stop, though there is a pub opposite.

This is a slightly different route compared with Yoxbur Two - with a bit of variation in Burton itself. Please see the description and reviews for that route too as there is little additional to add. The Burton end variant gave us no issues and not a lot of traffic but this was late Saturday afternoon in Feb and a rainy day. Overall it's a really nice walk and takes in some rolling beautiful countryside. There are pubs enroute but we didn't use any so can't comment on that angle. Public transport was easy. There aren't many other facilities on the way but it's not a long route. We noted that there are a lot of stiles, kissing gates and some combos throwing both in together. Walking in Feb it was a bit overgrown and I think I got caught on brambles and thorns on nearly every stile but I think that was more wearing a scarf and woolly jumper! It has been raining a lot but would add the common issue of livestock in a field but single point of entry meant some lovely quagmires to wade through. Waterproof shoes only work when the mud doesn't go up and over and in. We also found it a little difficult to navigate in places where arable fields had been ploughed and resowed as the cross field footpaths had disappeared. It was possible to stick to the hedge though and walk round given field edges were broad enough. It was a pleasant walk with snowdrops, deer, wading birds and buzzards on the trees. At the approach towards the reservoirs there were a couple of places where maintenance would be useful. Chicken wire and rotten planks on bridge crossings and some planks meant to cross some muddy patches that were submersing. Two nice long stretches of dry path - through Dunstall and along the canal which looks to have been recently resurfaced (compacted sandy/gravel fading to tarmac in/near Burton). The road stretch towards Yoxall was a bit busy but the road is wide enough and there are decent verges to walk on most of it.

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