Butterton

October 17, 2018.

BUTTERTON, CROFT HEAD FARM, WARSLOW BROOK, STONEYFOLD, LOWER ELKSTONE, HOLE FARM, BLACK BROOK FARM, FARMOOR, THE JERVIS ARMS AT ONECOTE, 47 SQUADRON CAIRN, SHELDON FARM, GREENHEAD COTTAGE AND BLACK LION INN AT BUTTERTON

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Easy apart from barbed wire and water hazards.

Weather: Warm and dry with blue skies and sunshine.

Walkers: Andrew Ashworth, Micky Barrett, Peter Beal, Alastair Cairns, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Jock Rooney with Tip, Julian Ross and George Whaites.

Apologies: Colin Davison (attending funeral), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman (awaiting knee op on Oct 20), Mark Gibby (in hospital) and Steve Kemp (recovering from op)

Leader: Cunliffe. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Lay-by near Butterton Parish Church, south of Warslow, Staffs.

Starting time: 10.30am. Finishing time: 3.15pm.

For the second week running, glorious sunny weather brought ten walkers and two dogs for this new walk selected and led by Tom. We also welcomed a debutant, Andrew, who must have felt as though he had wandered on to the set of Last of the Summer Wine.

The best way to describe this walk was “incident-packed”. Butterton is one of the southernmost starting points I have visited with the Wednesday Wanderers and a series of traffic hold-ups on the journey there led to a delayed start. But as Tom was in possession not only of a large scale map of the area, but also his Global Positioning Satellite device (GPS) what could possibly go wrong ?      Read on.

After passing Croft Head Farm on our right (3mins) the first drama unfolded as Tom attempted to cross a stile on our left. He slipped on the far side, temporarily losing both his map and his spectacles. He also sustained a rip to the seat of his pants and smears of brown mud in an unfortunate area.

While Tom attempted to regain his composure, map and specs, Daisy bounded into the field and immediately started rounding up a flock of sheep which fled in terror from their tiny tormentor. It is unlikely they had seen a miniature poodle before, let alone been chased by one. Tom’s orders for Daisy to return, issued in a loud commanding voice, were totally ignored. Daisy has clearly been trained by Stella.

We proceeded with many consultations being made by our leader to both the map and the GPS. Chaos ensued however when he decided it was necessary to cross a barbed wire fence and ford a stream to continue. The double jeopardy of castration and drowning were avoided, but Peter slipped off the rocks into Warslow Brook and Chris realised belatedly that he had lost his specs as he stumbled across.

While this mayhem was going on, your diarist, Alastair and George explored a path to the left which led to a bridge across the river and into a farmyard at Stoneyfold. We emerged along the proper path where we joined by the unhappy remnants of Tom’s lost legion. As we approached a sign for Elkstones, we paused for pies and port on a drystone wall. It seemed incredible we had squeezed so much drama into one hour of walking.

Continuing we passed Hole Farm on our left and Town Head Farm on our right, where first we came under the alarming gaze of a huge black Alsatian and were then treated like a flock of wayward sheep by a border collie. After passing Breach Farm on our right and Farmoor Farm on our left we reached the road to Onecote and turned right along it.

Passing Malbon House Farm and Butterton Moor Home on our left, we reached Onecote at 1pm. We are obliged to our learned friend Mr Rooney for the information that the village is pronounced Onnercot by locals. With the sun beating down, we enjoyed a choice of three different cask ales in the beer garden by the side of the River Manifold.

On leaving the pub we reached an intriguing sign for the 47 Squadron Cairn. When your diarist suggested this could be visited on the way back to Butterton he was rebuked by the leader who informed us we would not be passing the cairn.

Imagine our surprise, dear readers, when 35 minutes later, after much aimless wandering and map and GPS consultation, we arrived at the 47 Squadron Cairn.

This was a memorial to a Halifax RT922 which came down on the hillside here in February, 1947. Six RAF personnel and two press photographers were all killed when the plane crashed as it attempted to deliver supplies to snowbound Grindon.

After passing Sheldon Farm, Tom lost his lead which must have been a huge relief to Daisy who had twice nearly been strangled by it as Tom led her through a gate and over a stile. The lost lead was found and retrieved by our following group.

After passing Greenhead Cottage and the closed Black Lion pub in Butterton, which was built in 1782, we returned to our cars to de-boot at 3.15pm. There had been a plan to drive to the Knights Table at Flash, but because of the lateness of the hour your diarist decided to head straight home.


Pictures by Andrew Ashworth

Next week’s walk will start at 9.30am from the car park of Poynton Sports Club, heading up Princes Incline and along the Ladybrook Trail into Lyme Park before heading back and calling for a bracer around 12.15pm at The Boar’s Head, Higher Poynton. The walk will finish back at the Sports Club where chilli, rice and chips are being provided to celebrate the 73rdbirthday of your diarist. We hope the B team will be able to join us at both venues.

Happy wandering !