A drizzly start to Wednesday 12th November 2025, but the rain soon cleared and the mild temperatures for this month continued.
17 members met on the Oakamoor car park for the 7 mile walk led by Mel Griffiths, and we headed out past the picnic tables in the open area here walking uphill to Star Wood and later onto Moneystone via woodland, fields and lanes. We managed a good pace, so we had soon warmed up after the rain, and reached our break spot which was just below Rock Cottage, which appears to be built directly onto the side of a huge stone on the land, with lovely views in front of us.
We continued on to walk over Whiston Golf Course, which seems really hilly in parts, to then reach Whiston village and onto Ross Lane.
Despite recent rain the under foot conditions were generally good, until one area later in the walk where we took extra care on a tricky downhill path through quite thick mud. The woodwork on stiles and bridges was also saturated, so very slippy and awkward to move over. As we carried on we took the Staffordshire Way through Hawksmoor Nature Reserve, and stopped for lunch, unfortunately just as heavy rain appeared. After our break we crossed over the road into Sutton's Wood. The narrow rocky path here had water flowing through its centre as we continued down to Stoney Dale, and then took the lane up past the cottages to the edge of the car park.
Despite the rain in the latter stage we all enjoyed the walk! There are some great photographs of this walk on the Staffordshire Area Ramblers FB site, courtesy of Brian McMahon. A selection are shown here.
