Rugeley

Mostly very safe, but some care is needed crossing the roads around the Wolseley Centre and passing under the railway bridge in Little Haywood....

David Sanderson

On reaching civilisation, the Trent and Mersey Canal at Handsacre, I felt a sense of relief. You soon leave the canal to follow the high streets through Handsacre and then Armitage. The walk from the canal to the meeting place in Rugeley is short and unremarkable....

David Sanderson

Path at SK 0060 1540 to take you near the Cannock Chase Visitors Centre has been closed to the public and is gated at the other end. Canrug two is a diverted version of this route, use that instead....

David Sanderson

You can follow a signposted trail from the other side of the road but instead this route goes down the road (which involves verge walking) before going up a rutted bridleway to join up with the main route. It was at this point I wondered if there was a nicer way to finish the walk from the other side of the railway line as walking and cycle route is marked in that direction. Instead I pounded the pavement of the main road through Hednesford and then Chadsmoor to the eventual meeting place at Cannock Railway Station. Yes, crossing the road at Lady Hill Coppice could cut out the road walking and a bit of research might produce a more offroad section at the Cannock end....

David Sanderson

1 On Gentleshaw Hill at SK 0502 1086 you are directed to follow a right of way where the path does not exist....

David Sanderson

The first section is a gentle stroll along residential pavements in Norton Canes and then Chase Terrace although there is a blind road crossing at the A5195 which needs care. The walk leaves the national trails and crosses the road, passing a caravan park before looping around to climb over Regents Hill and then cross the road. After crossing Stile Cop Road you go through a car park, often busy with mountain bikers, and pass a triangulation pillar. For Rugbur from Rugeley to Burntwood I followed 200m of Stile Cop Road which although being a 60mph road with no pavement, is not very, busy and has long lines of sight and a wide roadside to step into when a car approaches....

David Sanderson

Leaving from Rugeley you are asked to join the canal then leave the canal via a bridge and then rejoin the canal where there is no means to do so. The Stafford end is very vague in an area where you need to know whether you follow either of the two rivers or the canal. Unworthy of a Slow Way...

David Sanderson

It was too early for it to be open, but I checked that the pub in Little Heywood is a short walk from the route. At Great Heywood you leave the Trent and Mersey and join the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. There's a strange bridge which crosses where the Penk should be which I've left the route crossing. After crossing a bridge and the road which crosses it, the route picks up the River Sow Leisure Route, a really enjoyable paved walk into the town centre....

David Sanderson

The road from Pottal Pool to the junction with Cannock Rd is heavily trafficked with frequent large lorries. There is no verge to walk on and a Slow Wayer has indicated that this road is dangerous for pedestrians....

Cristie

Mixed walking, quiet roads, fields, tracks and paths...

Emma Dodd

As the route hits Pipe Ridware it leaves The Way for the Millennium, which you have just joined, in order to take a route north via Hamstall Ridware. Getting into Hamstall Ridware (site of the second pub of the journey) you then have to follow a lane where the car is king. Having crossed yet another stile that requires the legs of Peter Crouch but the body of Ronnie Corbett I found the route joining the Way for the Millennium which I had left in Pipe Ridware....

David Sanderson

The first section leaves Rugeley via a lane that cars use rather than a more direct footpath that gets you to the same spot. The next section was usable but a new road and the diversion of a footpath throws the route into confusion in Hill Ridware. Directing you up a lane and then through a non-existent gap to then join a footpath which will take you back to the lane you would have been on had you not been directed up the first lane....

David Sanderson

The road from Pottal Pool to the junction with Cannock Rd is heavily trafficked with frequent large lorries. There is no verge to walk on and I think this road is dangerous for pedestrians...

Margaret

Were it not for the dangerous stiles (all featured on the "Way for the Millennium" walk) I would submit a new version with the section in Hill Ridware corrected....

David Sanderson

Having passed numerous shops and pubs and underneath the railway arch, you turn off to the right (2) and follow a series of pavements and then footpaths through a quiet residential area (3). You cross a car park (popular with mountain bikers) and turn left into Stile Cop Road. There is a short section of road walking here but the stretch is straight and has verges. At the end of the road you cross over onto Startley Hill where the Way picks up the Heart of England Way. Even if you don't divert to walk around the monument, the road at the front beyond the car park has great views south across the Black Country and into Worcestershire. The route folows the track and ends up on Chorley Road where you turn right and the pavement follows the road up the hill past a couple of pubs and small supermarkets before turning left into Rugeley Road....

David Sanderson

Bishops Walk is temporarily closed in Lichfield (this should only be a problem until early June 2021) and more importantly a section of the walk at Armitage takes you along a footpath (marked on the OS map between SK 0804 1626 and SK 0837 1623) on the non-towpath side at the back of the Armitage Shanks factory which no longer exists and is impassable. The route then took me around Rugeley across field then via a sharp ascent up what appeared to be an old slag heap (mining was once the main industry) and brought me into the far side of Rugeley (from Lichfield)....

David Sanderson

The route to the canal is direct and easy to follow. The route leaves the canal in Armitage and delivers you to a bus route, cafe, pub and supermarket if you so desire....

David Sanderson