Day 39: Colton to Uttoxeter (11.8 miles)

Ye Old Dun Cow was an excellent place to stay with a good breakfast to set me up for the day. I left at 10am having warmed up with right side glute still playing up. In some discomfort I took small, slow paces to warm up and was cheered by the sun and 4 buzzards enjoying the thermals above, mewing to each other.

At Stockwell Heath pond a pair of Canada geese arched and bobbed their necks suspiciously at me as they guarded their brood of chicks, along with mallards and their 3 chicks and a moorhen. It was now quite warm so I put KT tape on my shoulders to protect them from chaffing with backpack, and a swig of water to keep me going.

There followed a potential incident with cows and calves. Leaving an attractive stream - actually the outflow for the reservoir at STW - I came to a field of cows, one looking particularly hard at me with her calf by her side. Suddenly the whole herd started to trot towards me with half a dozen starting to cross my path which would have meant me being in the middle. Whether it was to soothe them or me is a matter for conjecture but I chatted to them and praised them moving to the right to prevent being cut off and turned, paused and spoke to them again. They stopped and looked back at me and then let me walk slowly away. Now whether this made any difference or not I’m not sure. I actually do like cows but like others I am very aware that there have been some problems for people. I hope by keeping calm and talking to them calmly this does help. If it helps anyone else reading this not to panic then that’s one benefit. I do wonder whether cows are like dogs - they sense fear and this can make them nervous and protective.

You may also be laughing at me as you may have noticed that although I like walking on my own, I habitually talk to the animals and birds along my way!

The irritated glute is doing me a favour - it is justifying my self imposed nickname of the “John O’Groats plodder” - and allows me to look forward to the uphills now which actually alleviates the discomfort. At this point I was conscious that I would just have to watch my pace and timing and get up promptly tomorrow at Marchington for what would be a long day to Thorpe of 17 miles if the digitised route was anywhere near accurate. There was a drawback to going to the place of my maiden name as it was adding at least 4 miles to the designated route.

I had lunch just below the village after stopping at the Abbot Bromley grocery store where the owner was sympathetic of my need to keep weight down with any supplies I purchased. I was pleased that this detour meant I saw more of the village - apparently the best kept village of Staffordshire. Strangely when I got up from my lunch break, the glute problem seemed to have gone - possibly the ibuprofen I’d got from the shop or the way I’d been sitting.

A second incident with cows occurred - this time with a group of heifers who were over inquisitive and needed a fair bit of persuasion to let me be and let me through. This was done through a mix of talking to them, standing my ground and gently pointing my sticks towards them to halt them - more so for a particularly cheeky one which required a gentle tapping of the sticks together which did the trick.  As I’d seen on a video, if you stop, turn and look at them, they stop as well - bolder ones creeping forward unless discouraged by the sticks. Certainly this worked for this incident. Once I was over the stile they then approached again but were not so bold as to have a pat.  

As I got close to where I’d need to turn off the route to deviate to Marchington it occurred to me that this might be a foolish move. By deviating off route it would add at least 4 miles to tomorrow’s walk, which given the current status of my glute was probably not very sensible. So a little reluctantly as emotionally I’d wanted to stop by and the campsite had offered to have me for free, I looked and found accommodation at Uttoxeter. This would make tomorrow’s walk with a potentially dodgy glute or more realistic 12 miles. I hoped my father would forgive me the omission.

I felt this was a good decision and let the campsite know the change of plan which they completely understood. Shortly after I met a family out for a walk with their small spaniels. The daughter is doing her silver DoE and they were clearly impressed by what I was doing and told me the hotel I had booked was good. Another donation was promised.

I looked back and realised that I had been looking onto the Marchington Woodland - that felt enough for now. I can always visit another time, and I am quite sure my father would agree! Walking away from the woodlands and through Bagot’s Park, I disturbed a male fallow dear - his antlers and distinctive white tail helping me identify him as a fallow rather than roe deer - which had hidden in the stream ditch I was walking by. 

A large shadow racing towards me made me look up to see a very pale buzzard - almost white underneath - gliding over and above me.  It’s amazing how varied their plumage can be. Later I flushed out a couple of red legged partridge from by my side. And then a black pheasant scurried away to my right. Not seen one like that before! But then another appeared a stunning iridescent green-black.

A prominent liner of large pylons appeared and as I passed under them I heard their distinctive buzz. I do wonder if they would be allowed today if they were now proposed marching across the country? A beautiful tree in flower by an oak (and the pylons) had me flummoxed …. Can a black or hawthorn grow that big? And if not what was it?

I noticed that the daffodils are now over in the lane banks with dandelions and sneeze/stitch wort taking over here. There were lots of stiles today to challenge my physical dexterity. As I’ve said before my knees aren’t strong enough with the backpack if the steps are too high - but also if the stile is so narrow you can’t swing your leg around - so my arms come into use for pushing up if there are the posts or cross-bars available to do so. But I also found myself having to use my hands to lift my feet up where the stile is narrow. All part of getting older I guess and all part of the challenge!

I saw a lot more peacock butterflies today along with a few orange tips and I guess having a sunny day helped. All in all this was a good day but I was pleased to arrive in Uttoxeter and discover a town with more character than the End to end guide had suggested. The Old Bank hotel was indicative of this. I’d been upgraded to a rather splendid 4 poster bedroom with brass hairbrush and mirror and downstairs  a brass plate - various antiques reminding me of my grandmother’s house.