National Memorial Arboretum Yoxall

Date: 4 July 2010
Area: Staffordshire North of Litchfield
Distance: 10.5 Miles 16.8 k
Start Location: National Memorial Arboretum car park
OS Sheet: Explorer 245
Grid Ref: SK 1814 1483
Outline: National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Yoxall





The idea for the walk this weekend, or at least its general location came from reading a recent post on Mike & Gail’s Blog Here of a walk they did taking in the National Memorial Arboretum. Then, while looking at the map, I spotted the village of Yoxall, where in 1990, when working for Civil Engineering consultants I designed a small bit of a new sewerage system.

So a plan was formed; park at the NMA, walk through Alrewas, following the footpaths along the south side of the River Trent, up into Yoxall and back to Alrewas down the Staffordshire Way then around Croxall Lakes and through the NMA for a look around.

Ten minutes into the walk we came to the A38 and a piece of advice given to me years ago immediately came to mind “treat motorways and major roads like deep rivers, only with fewer bridges”. Thankfully, there were gaps in the multiplicity of Armco and other barriers that protects the motorists from straying pedestrians, so we crossed.

Alrewas (I have no idea how to pronounce the name) was very quiet and rather an attractive place with a whole range of period architecture from 16th Century right through to modern. There are a number of timber framed properties in classic black and white, some in unpainted timber with brick infill panels as well as a few thatched cottages, also some pretty gardens.

We walked through the village, over the canal and past the church to set off across the Trent flood plane, along a path carefully hidden at the end of a road to the north west of the church. The journey from there to Yoxall Bridge was a bit of a mixed bag. There were some pleasant sections and we saw swans, cows, dragon flies and herons but so much of the land was lying thistle strewn and unused. Some stiles were in poor condition and the way marking was sparse so that careful map reading was necessary to stay on route.

Don’t mention the oilseed rape.

At Yoxall Bridge we took the old road over the Trent and went uphill picking a route through the new woodland to the highest point on the walk at 87m. Dropping down into Yoxall we crossed the A515 and picked up the Staffordshire Way down through Wychnor Park, crossing the Rivers Swarbourn and Trent via two rather disconcerting bridges into Alrewas.

Along the Staffordshire Way we reached an elevation of 75m along the track out of Yoxall and 67m near to Wychnor Park. There was some good walking here with views over the Trent Valley, but these good bits were again offset by the poor state of some fields, the meagre way marking and dysfunctional stiles. Through  Wychnor Park the route was pure guess work, plus a bit of help from a golfer.

From the River Trent we followed an agreeable path along the north edge of the village until we hit the A38. Using discretion we retreated to the crossing point we used earlier, missing out Croxall Lakes, and headed back to the National Memorial Arboretum. By the time we bought a guide book, used the toilets, had a cup of tea and a cake and went to look at the Royal Engineers memorial, it started to rain, so back to the car, via the shop where, so I’m told, they have a lot of Thomas Joseph mugs and things, why?

Another visit to the Arboretum and Alrewas, plus Croxall Lakes is already planned.

Note to self: Use 1/25000 maps and take more photos