Last week Mrs BWW and I took a walk in South Cheshire, the week before we had enjoyed a circular route involving part of the South Cheshire Way and some of the nearby canal towpath and I had noticed some interesting interesting contours on the map north of Wrenbury, it is in fact a shallow valley formed by the infant River Weaver. I planned a route to give us a circular walk north of the canal, exploring this feature and then using connecting rights of way that avoided the highway to return to the canal and a mile or so walk back to Wrenbury, where we had booked in to the Dusty Miller. On our previous walk we had discovered this excellent canal side pub and been very impressed with the meal we enjoyed there.
On the outward part of the walk we ran into fields of maize, which had been quite blatantly planted across the rights of way, with no recognition that they would obstruct people using the access network in that part of the county.
Having guided Mrs BWW through the maize by getting her to hold onto my waist and put her head down between my should blades to protect her face and eyes from the edges of the maize leaves, we emerged and quite happily claimed to be lost. I say this as I feel that if the occupiers of the countryside can play 'fast and loose' with the 'Righteous Way', why should I respect any arrogant notions of private land.
However we did become re-united with the righteous way by accident only to be blocked by yet another field of maize. By which time we were running late and at risk of being more than reasonably late for our booking at the Dusty Miller. So we sought help from a local holding where a very elderly ex-Farmer put us onto a route back that avoided further encounters with maize crops.
I put in a footpath obstruction report about the field of maize and wrote an email to East Cheshire Council about my experience, with request that it was read out in public meeting at their Local Access Forum. I got an automated reply to the first and a polite, but firm answer to the second, which seems like a bureaucratic brush off.
I do not think the members of the East Cheshire Local Access Forum will be learning of my experience.
The reply to my email stated what the LAF was all about, which I already had I good idea as I spent the best part of 5 years on the Shropshire version of this statutory body, before it changed it's name.
Whilst Mrs BWW and I were enjoying our unofficial wander around some delightful countryside, a body with the interests of all those, who should benefit from access network, might just think "What iff".
A careful look at the map might reveal some more important points. We encountered the maize obstruction just west of Chorely Hall at SJ 57807 49773. If you follow back the various lines of cross country routes that converge on this point you could go right back to Bunbury, even Northwich or Nantwich, and bring in the natural features there are within the surrounding countryside,
so it is quite possible that all sorts of linear routes could be created.
Why would they be linear?? because there is a station on the main line at Wrenbury.