Saturday 15 February 5.5 miles
Tracey, Jane and Hilary
We started at the Fox and Barrel and as we got there the rain started to
come down so we put on our waterproof trousers. From
the car park we turned right and then right again following a track. By a house
we turned right onto a footpath, following the path downhill we had to climb up
onto the bank and then hold on to a tree to climb back down again. A tree had
fallen across the path. There was a wet bit of path but fortunately still quite
solid to walk on. We crossed a stream to return to the A49.
At the crossroads we turned left into Oulton Mill Lane,
where there were snowdrops by the roadside, and followed the road for half a mile to a grassy triangle, where we kept right
to pass a picnic area. At the next crossroads we turned right on to Beech Lane
and followed it for about a quarter of a mile, then crossed a stile on the
left.
It was not clear which way to go, we went left and
then right. It was hard work to walk across the wet ground, and the stile was
difficult to cross as the tree had grown across it. We followed the edge of the
field towards a farm as the field had been cordoned off for the sheep. We took
off our rucksacks so we could pass between the building and the gate post. We
passed a field that had a mixture of animals in it (ducks, donkeys, alpacas and rheas) and went by the farm into the lane. At the T-junction we turned
right and then immediately went right over a stile.
The path then went across the field where there were
some horses in the field but they paid no attention. We crossed a stile in the
far left-hand corner and dropped down a bank. The path continued across another
field, this field was full of a crop and we weren’t sure what it was. It had well
eaten leaves and large bulbous roots, we thought they might be beets. A stile
lead out to Hickhurst Lane. Turning right we followed the road into Eaton.
After the school entrance, we saw a bench and decided
to eat our lunch even though it wasn’t 12 o’clock yet. The rain started to come
down again so we continued on our way. We turned left into Winterford Lane,
turned right and followed Edgewell Lane, firstly through the housing estate and
then came to some half-timbered buildings.
Turning right at the end of the road, we passed the
church, reaching the village cross and turning right then immediately left into
Lightfoot Lane. Part way up the lane there was a fenced off area where the land had been dug away and
there were two blue pipes in the hole not yet joined together. The lane becomes a hollow way going between
the trees and hedges and passes through a small disused stone quarry. This long
slow hill took some effort, as we reached the top we could hear golfers hitting
golf balls.
We came to the golf course and crossed the pathway, then
we continued across the golf course turning left along the byway and followed
the hedge along the side of the course down to the A49. Turning right we went
along the narrow pavement and there was quite a lot of traffic, then we crossed
to a footpath sign by a stile on the left-hand side. We went down the wooden steps
to a second stile and walked down the side of the field where part of the field
was bounded by electric fences with horses inside.
As we crossed the stile and the bridge across the stream
was quite clear. A short stretch alongside the
stream led to a stile into a field on the other side. There were tractor prints and holes made by horses hooves in the grass. Crossing the stile we then followed the path
alongside a narrow millpond. A new fence had been put up, making sure we followed
a path near to the pond. Towards the end of the water we turned right to emerge
on a narrow lane. There was a man fishing, he had a large umbrella to keep the rain off. We turned left and came across another fallen tree, it had fallen away from the road but had taken some of the road with it.
We walked up the road to a T-junction.
Turning right we walked along Utkinton Lane for about a quarter of a mile, here
there were a few cars going along the road.We carried on along the lane past Hollins Hill
on the left and Briar Lane on the right and at Stable Lane we crossed straight
over and walked past the church down to the A49. We crossed the main road and
turned left along the pavement to return to the Fox & Barrel.
We went to the Tarporley Garden Centre to have tea and cake (a brownie and a lemon drizzle) and a hot chocolate.
