Day 39: Bishop’s Wood to Cannock Chase

It was a miserable start this morning. Badly laid out paths and rain made walking cumbersome, but the day improved as the sun appeared and I went over Cannock Chase. 

• Date: 28 April 2024
• Start: Bishop’s Wood
• End: Cannock Chase
• Miles: 18.4
• Total miles: 491.7
• Accommodation: Carney Pools

It rained quite a bit overnight and was raining when I set off this morning. Today I joined the Staffordshire Way. You’d expect it to be a decent path, but it was far from it. There weren’t many signposts and the route was along paths that weren’t that interesting and hard to walk on. 

I reached Penkridge in the late morning, grabbed my lunch and then headed along a canal, under the M6, and towards Cannock Chase. 

Cannock Chase was beautiful. I spent a couple of hours walking through it to another canal. 

I veered off the canal towards my campsite for the night. They phoned me earlier to tell me that I was the only one staying tonight, as everyone else had packed up and left early due to last night’s weather, pathetic. It was a glorious afternoon and evening, where I had the whole place to myself. 

After setting up camp, I went to take a shower, but realised it needed a pound coin to operate. This is happening too often these days, you pay good money for a campsite pitch, and they charge for the shower. Sadly, I had no change, so I washed myself and my hair in the bathroom sink. 

It was chilli con carne from a tin for the third night running. It seems particularly common in all of the corner shops. 

Later in the evening, I went to the local pub and met up with my friend Ian, who I haven’t seen before I went travelling, for a catch up.