Two Country Parks

Saturday 5 September 2015 8.1miles
Tracey, Jane + Hilary

The first thought on waking is "What is the weather going to be like today?". As we woke to rain there was some wondering as to whether we might get wet today, but in the end we had beautiful sunshine. An excellent walk with plenty of variety from woodland to rocks with views as well as the towns.

We parked at Biddulph Country Park, there were plenty of cars as people were walking their dogs. Hilary had managed to find some new Brasher socks whilst on holiday in Scotland, but was still wearing her old holey boots so her feet were bound to be wet by the end of the day! The Visitor Centre was not open, but we were able to use the toilets.

The Visitor Centre was then the start of the walk, walking through the park along a path beside a stream was very picturesque, it was constructed in Victorian times to create just such a walk.

We left the park and started a gentle climb until we reached the Staffordshire Moorlands Walk.The walk was not easy to follow the walk in places even though we were following the Staffordshire Moorlands Walk lapwing emblem on a yellow arrow. We ended up doing a few more stretches of road than we walk suggested we should do.

The Wicken Stones are great slabs of rock sticking out of the landscape. The lovely views are the main feature of this walk and on such a clear bright day we could see for miles.
As we came around the radio mast there was a white horse standing under the rock formation and it looked as though it was holding up the rock.

We could see the water of the reservoir as we followed the path, it looked a bit brown from the distance. We entered Greenway Bank Country Park and followed the path along the edge of the Knypersley Reservoir.
The site was once part of the Knypersley Hall estate. The site was owned in 1778 by Hugh Henshall, brother-in-law of James Brindley, and the engineer in charge of completing the Trent and Mersey canal. He created two lakes at Greenway, the upper in 1781 being fed by the Trent via a leat from Knypersley. The larger lake, Knypersley Pool, was created in 1828 to feed the Caldon Canal via the Trent.

The lunch stop is always much anticipated! We had mentioned food before we entered the country park, but it just as well we had waited as we sat and had lunch under the trees where there was a bench with a view over the water. The little bit of a breeze made the water glisten in the sunshine
Other people came along

We joined the Biddulph Valley way which was originally a branch of the North Staffordshire Railway. It was lovely to walk so close to Biddulph In some places we were under the canopy of the trees, in other at the backs of houses.

Congleton Garden centre for tea and lovely cake and good value too at £2.95.