Skip to main content

Dove Valley Walk: Going round the bend

Somewhere between Marchington and Uttoxeter, the wiggles of the River Dove stop wiggling west to east, and start wiggling north to south. If it went in straight lines, it would make a right-angled bend. As I'm following the river upstream, this was my last section walking west. After this it's north to the Peak District and Dovedale.


here the Dove swings north

The main walk of this section was all on the south side of the river. But I also did a separate, shorter walk, to explore the village of Doveridge, and the old Dove Bridge which is tantalisingly glimpsed from the A50.

Walk 1: Marchington to Uttoxeter

I liked Marchington even more as I arrived there for the second time. I parked opposite the village shop - noting the "ice cream" sign outside for later - and near the brick-built St Peter's Church, with a war memorial built in above the door.



 A few streets took me to the other side of the village, where I found a path alongside a stream, then across some hay meadows. I met some geese who were enjoying a good view. 


Dropping down another field, I had to navigate an overgrown and muddy section next to the railway, but it was fairly short. Once over the railway, it was easy walking across fields which had been cut for silage, and then along a tractor track. To my left, the railway ran straight; to my right, the river roamed in rambling curves.

pillbox piled with driftwood

Navigation was easy apart from one place where I played a frustrating game of hunt-the-stile along a wire fence. After I'd found my way back to the proper path, I met a family with two young children coming in the other direction. I deduced that there must be a reasonable route to Uttoxeter from that point.

aim for the spire!


So it proved. I met the Staffordshire Way just outside the town, passed the train station, and had a snack in a very flowery housing estate.
Staffordshire Way signpost

gorgeous garden

Maiden's Well was marked on the map, and the ever-useful Megalithic Portal informed me that it was in the garden of number 21A. I was slightly confused by the house numbers running 21, 21B, then 21A, but spotted the well looking much like the photo on the website.

Maiden's Well


A polite path took me across to Toothill Road, where there was a cute fairy village under a bush. I joined the wonderfully-named Moisty Lane, enjoying views across the Dove valley to the Staffordshire hills. 

Dodging some tractors energetically mowing hay, I arrived back in Marchington. The village shop did not disappoint. I enjoyed a pot of Daltons lemon curd ice cream on a bench with my new friend.


 

12 km / 7.5 miles

24 June 2024

Walk 2: Doveridge and Dove Bridge

Both the village and the bridge are backwaters now, bypassed by the modern A50 which takes all the traffic whizzing (or possibly crawling) past them. I always like exploring that kind of place, figuring out where all the roads used to go, and enjoying that strange atmosphere of somewhere which used to be busy and is now deserted.

once a main road

 The Doveridge Preservation Society have put together a leaflet (pdf) of two walks around the village, which Graham and I followed. We parked outside St Cuthbert's Church. In the churchyard is the second largest yew tree in Derbyshire, over 1000 years old. It is held together by chains and propped up so that people can walk underneath, and even so, it is an awe-inspiring presence.


door to the church

Walking down the churchyard and across a field took us to a suspension bridge across the River Dove. On Google Maps it is labelled as Swinging Bridge, and we could certainly feel it moving under our feet! A raised path continued onward to the A50. We had to turn left to join the cycle path over the A50 bridge, then drop down again to go under the dual carriageway and find the old bridge on the far side.


under the A50

Graham was a little bemused at my excitement about being on the old bridge. I've always looked at it when we've driven past, and thought, "I must go and see that one day." Finally I'd made it.


very overgrown old bridge!

We returned to the cycle path next to the A50. This path used to be the old main road through Doveridge. Back at the church, we embarked on the second walk (Walk One on the leaflet), which was a loop around the village. The walk directions highlighted a few buildings of interest. They are slightly out of date; the Methodist chapel is now a house, and a couple of new roads have been built between Pickley Lane and Lower Street, but the route was easy enough to follow.

village well

Manor House

nice display in the bus stop


5.5 km / 3.5 miles

17 June 2024

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Drought

Two days into Stage One water restrictions, and I looked out of the window to see the guy over the road washing his car. Admittedly, the restrictions don't actually forbid you to wash your car.  They limit you to using a hand-held bucket (does it count if you put it down on the driveway?) or hand-held hose "for quick rinses".  But they are pretty much "if you don't mind" rules at this stage anyway, with holes large enough to lose whole buckets of water through (hand-held or otherwise).  For example, we are now limited to watering our lawn twice a week, but this only applies to sprinkler systems.  You can still use a hose as much as you like, presumably on the assumption that you will get bored of standing there holding it very quickly.  And besides, everything you read about good watering technique says it's better to water thoroughly just once a week.  Our garden would think Christmas had come early if it got watered every three days! So hopefully...
2 comments
Read more

Jesus came to earth... to reflect God to us

Do you remember playing with a magnifying glass on a sunny day?   That curved piece of glass you held in your hand captured the scattered rays, narrowing them down to a fluttering patch of brightness.   And all the light’s power was held in that one small circle, shrinking and shrinking… until finally you were rewarded with a sudden curl of smoke, and a neat charred hole. Imagine, then, that God, seeking to reveal himself on earth, condensed his essential being through some kind of celestial magnifying glass.   That wavering point became smaller and smaller, losing none of its power… until it became the exact size of a human baby, growing in a womb. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, says the verse in Colossians, the perfect reflection of God’s glory.   This is the first and greatest reason that Jesus came: to show us what God is really like.   Yet sometimes, reflected and refracted through 2000 years of history, the image that Jesus shows...
2 comments
Read more

Making a mess

My friend Ellie writes a blog which I now shamelessly crib ideas from, when I am stuck for something new to do with Toby.  Some time ago she wrote about a substance with the poetic moniker of cloud dough .  It sounded simple to make and fun to play with, so I tucked it away in the back of my mind. The recipe is childishly simple: 8 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of vegetable oil, and mix.  It comes out kind of sandy, although softer and more powdery. Now, Ellie has two gorgeous girls.  Her blog entries were full of photos of them adding pretty objects and creating cute little landscapes.  I, on the other hand, have a full-on hands-on get-stuck-in-as-far-as-possible boy.  This is what happens when you let him loose on a scatterable substance. We make it and it all starts well.  Notice I have prepared for mess with a large tarpaulin and lack of shorts. A few minutes in, and the mess is spreading up the T-shirt.  It's still mostly in the t...
2 comments
Read more