A visit to Cannock Chase

On the spur of the moment, we drove to Cannock Chase on Sunday. The weather was fairly good and we wanted to go somewhere! The drive up the A5 was pretty easy. After a bit of stress trying to find the visitor centre (the stupid free map was wrong and there are lack of signposts in the area) we did eventually park up, have a look at the information at the centre, and then start walking around.

Cannock Chase is a large area of woodland and moorland to the North of Birmingham. There are many way-marked paths to follow either by foot, or on horse-back or by mountain bike. On this, our first visit, we found some interesting little lakes and a stream in a heavily wooded valley of mixed trees (see photo to the left). Most of the new planting on the moorland is made up of tall coniferous trees (see right!) The area has been planted since the 1920's, and the area has a rich military history from both the First and Second World Wars (two bases, a hospital and training area etc.)

All in all, it was a fun little trip. Certainly nice to be out and about walking again after such a long time! You can see some other photos at Carla's blog here (scroll down a bit....)