Day 26 - Abbots Bromley to Ilam
Sincere apologies for the AWOL situation - totally unavoidable I'm afraid as I'm now in 'non-internet' territory!
Anyway, back to the diary....chilly and overcast morning again so t shirt and leggings. Mary told me the road I was intending to take was private so better be 'armed with an excuse!'. Decided to chance it anyway but at Dunstal I was suddenly faced with 'Private Drive - strictly no footpath'...bah humbug farmer!! Anyway, a Mr Frogitt told me to use it anyway but it was a bit scary knowing that I was blantantly trespassing! Hurried past a couple of houses and didn't even stop when I saw a herd of fallow deer - I have no idea if they were wild or farmed. Picked up the Staffordshire Way again so sigh of relief! Met a postie in his van who had never seen anyone on the footpath and promptly donated £2. Across zillions of fields either containing curious cows or meadows of wild flowers (dandelions, buttercup and clover which all make a satisfying slapping sound against my trainers!). I slightly lost the SW running through a lovely gully dotted with railway sleeper bridges over a meandering brook into Utoxeter and ended up further down the main road than I intended, but soon back on track and popped into Tesco for a sarnie and replenish a couple of toiletry items! The checkout staff were giving me strange looks as I repacked my backpack! Another racecourse visited then across grassy fields to the underpass of the A50 by the lovely stone Dove Bridge. Had lunch sat on a hilltop surrounded by white blossomed trees - the blossom was falling like snow storms. There was a lot of shooting and I assumed they were blasting pheasants but turned out to be a clay pigeon competition. Across flat sheep (again!) filled fields and past two huge barns both being renovated and both with the same nesting holes as in the barn a few days ago - is this now a legal requirement on all conversions? Then followed the River Dove past public school and a small flock of strange looking sheep with massive perms! I was then supposed to pick up the Limestone Way in Rocester but only found one sign on the whole footpath - bad! Thank goodness I could work out the route using the location of buildings and the river! Many of the stiles didn't have any signs at all so the only way of knowing which way was to look for trodden grass or vague direction of dots on the map! Went in Calwich Abbey Estate and all the boards told walkers to 'stick only to footpaths' - there wasn't any ruling for runners so I went by my map and not whether or not there was a marker or stile! 100% accurate route by following my own route! At Ousley Wood met by very steep lane all the way into Stanton where my legs started not to want to work - very tired! Undulating lane until meeting the A52 and then dropped down into the valley again and back up the other side. One thing I have noticed is that all the hedgerows have totally disappeared as has all the birdlife - all has been replaced by dry stone walling but unlike the Cotswolds this was grey stone. When I met the A523 I should have gone straight across to my overnight stay but knowing there was no possibility of any food being available I had to detour left (downhill!) into Waterhouses for fish and chips which I ate propped up behind a wall in a field! Then retraced steps (up a very steep hill!) into Calton where I took the footpath which soon disintegrated into nothing but littered with rocks. Initially couldn't see the road ahead so thought I'd somehow gone wrong but it was there...very very minor road only going to Throwley. It was mostly uphill (most of today seems to be up!) until I reached the top where the view was fantastic - free roaming cows and sheep and a long downhill to Throwley Hall Farm, right next to a run of Throwley Hall. A kestrel constantly circled right outside my window and kept landing on the phone wires. There was a very sick cow in the pasture that the farmer was giving glucose to - it didn't look very well at all. 3 horse riders were staying for a few days and then doing circular rides around the area.
Mileage 21.7 (GPS ran out of battery at 18.92 and although I know I went much further, I'll have to go with my map mileage) - time unsure!