Autumn Walk 25 September 2015 - Betley, Barthomley and Balterley (8 miles)
(see route at bottom of page)
There were 9 up for it: Yupmeister, Anytime Tone, Pedro, Grandpop Bill, Stubbee, Malc J, Tim Mothy, Roadrunner and Jacko.
There was a late change of venue due to a lack of pubs in the Staffordshire Moorlands area around Onecote. This led to John Mills having to drop out but added late inclusions of Roadrunner and Jacko.
A Roseville taxi was taken by most of the participants with pick-ups at the Westbury and Dick Turpin. The others met up at the car park of Betley Village Hall and we were slightly early setting off prior to the scheduled 9.15 start. In fact this was to be a theme of the day as we always seemed to be a bit too early.
As we were about 20 minutes too early for the 11.30 pub opening, we spent a while in the parish church of St Bertoline.
This is a very impressive church for such a small village and parts of it date back to the late 15th century. Anyway, of far more interest to us was the black-and-white timbered White Lion Inn, just across from the church, itself dating from 1614.
The staff were very busy preparing for a wedding reception but eventually let us in and we settled into the bar area; beers on tap included Marston's New World and Jennings Cocker Hoop.
After about an hour we headed off again, through the churchyard and on across mainly flat fields and tracks towards Balterley. Lunch was taken at the Broughton Arms, a large dining pub which is soon to undergo major refurbishment. Meals came promptly and popular choices were steak and ale pie, gammon and fish and chips. The ale choice was limited so we wasted no time and set off again on the last leg of the walk.
The weather had been fine all day and the sun was still shining as we came into the other end of Betley village. The intention was to stop at the Swan, in the centre of the village, but again we were too early. Although their website said the opening time was 3:00 a board outside showed it was 4:00, so we had another half hour to wait. Those who had to drive home headed off to their cars at the village hall car park; the rest of us soon decided we couldn't wait half an hour, so walked for 20 minutes up the road to the open Hand and Trumpet.
Final drinks were taken on the raised platform decking and the taxi was summoned to take us home: for once that wasn't too early!
Cheers
Anytime Tone
We wandered into Betley Village and had time for a coffee break at the Post Office cum Village Stores.
Photos were taken at the small Village Green and then we were off in an easterly direction, passing some very impressive tree houses.
Part of the bridleway was overgrown but we managed to keep going and crossed some dodgy stiles without mishap.
After crossing the B5500 and over another couple of overgrown stiles, we reached the edge of Mill Dale, reputedly “possibly the loveliest Dale in the Borough”. First impressions, however, weren't good as the steep drop into the dale was blocked by a fallen tree, but we battled on.
A lady walking her dog joined us for a short while, though we wondered if the dog was going to do any walking or was just being carried.
Jacko noted that we were on part of the “Two Saints Way”, which is a recently signposted long distance walk between the Cathedral cities of Chester and Lichfield.
The paths improved through the picturesque valley and we headed for our first stop in the village of Barthomley.
