It's time for some major technical updates:

1. The "Walks" and "Events" pages are now XML-driven through a common PHP page.
2. The "Walks", "Events" and "Places of Interest" pages now link to an enhanced picture display page that allows navigation to related pictures via a thumnails bar.

These changes are aimed at simpifying the process of adding new pages, improving navigation between pictures and, potentially, de-cluttering the likes of the railway pages, where pictures will be accessible without the need for a thumbnail on the calling page.

Good news from the railway: "Moorland & City Railways' project to create a 30-mile sustainable rail network has been awarded £1.65 million in the second round of the Government's Regional Growth Fund initiative." The full story is in the News section of the Moorland & City Railways website.

Repeated the walk from Stoke to Kingsley Holt. Nothing in particular to add to the site, except to mention the clearance of the Stoke to Leekbrook Railway, which has now progressed as far as Endon. All things being well, trains may be running down from Leekbrook early next year. A Green-party campaigner, who lives in Endon, is trying to spoil things by having the line declared a "village green", but the general opinion is that this is unlikely to succeed, since the railway never ceased to be a railway and anyone using it for leisure purposes is, in fact, trespassing.

I took a trip up to Consall Nature Park today and went for a walk along the river. In recent years, the canalised section through the woods has suffered badly from failed drainage and towpath collapse. Now, a programme of repairs is in progress: clearing vegetation, digging new drains and repairing the banks.
The improvement is immediate. The water level on the neighbouring land, that used to overflow the towpath, has now sunk by about a foot and the towpath itself is now mostly dry and level. They've even added a small bridge (pictured), to cross one of the main drains.

After eight years of prowling round the valley on foot, I finally got round to using the railway. Uncoincidently, they were holding a "Rail Ale Trail", in cooperation with local pubs and the Titanic Brewery. That meant a selection of real ales (and cider) being available from the pubs, in the stations and on the trains. Needless to say, I didn't drive up, which meant getting up rather early for the three-hour journey by public transport. Nevertheless, it was worth it, and I had a great day. The highlight, rail-wise, was the trip up the incline to Cauldon Lowe. The views across the moorlands from the high parts of the line were well worth the extra £5 for the supplementary ticket. The highlights, beer-wise, were Titanic's Plum Porter and Shugborough's Lordship's Own and Mi'Lady's Fancy. I also enjoyed the hog roast at the Black Lion and a pint of Bombardier from the newly-reopened Railway Inn, while I was waiting for the bus home.
I've added a Rail Ale Trail page to the Events part of the site with a few photos.

Laver Leisure are pushing ahead with proposals for the redevelopment of Moneystone Quarry as Moneystone Park, "A high quality sustainable leisure resort" focussing on "outdoor activities, wildlife, the environment and the quarry's heritage". Proposed activities include: boating, diving, rock climbing, adventure play, BMX, skate park, horse riding, paintball, walking, cycling and various "woodland activities". Proposed facilities include: cafe, bar, restaurant, visitor centre, indoor activity centre, market square and hotel spa. There could be a new station on the Churnet Valley Railway, linked to the site by a funicular. If it gets the go-ahead, the development will cost around £50M. Quarrying on the site is due to end this autumn.
The website for the project is at www.moneystonepark.co.uk.

The C.V.R. has announced another gala involving the recently-reopened Cauldon Low Branch. It will be held on the weekend of the 26th and 27th of March and will be a diesel event, involving "the CVR's current on site Diesel Loco's 37109, 37075, 33021 & 33102. More and final details to follow...".
Running on the Cauldon Lowe branch will now become a regular event, with services on roughly one weekend per month through 2011. Check details at the website: www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk.

Running in parallel to the CVLLP is Staffordshire Moorlands District Council's Churnet Valley Masterplan. The "key opportunity sites" are listed as: Bolton Copperworks, Froghall; Cornhill, Leek; Alton Towers; Consall Hall Gardens; and Moneystone Quarry. The plan is in its early stages but the "Bolton Copperworks Baseline Report" is available to download, containing an extensive assessment of the site and its development potential. The gist of it is that the site has lots of potential for residential and leisure development but has limited commercial prospects (other than Boltons itself, which will remain).

I've just found out about the Churnet Valley Living Landscape Partnership, which is a bit poor on my part because it was announced months ago. This is a hugely-important development for the Churnet Valley, with the potential for £2,000,000 of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help to both preserve and revitalise this area of the Staffordshire Moorlands. I've included a couple of quotes below, lifted from the website, which explain things nicely.
"Churnet Valley Living Landscape Partnership (CVLLP) is a major project which aims to conserve, enhance and celebrate the special landscape fringing the Peak District in the Staffordshire Moorlands.
There are currently a number of pressures on the area which, if action is not taken, will result in damage to or even loss of its special character. Low farming incomes, a decline in the condition of attractive features such as old bridges and dry stone walls, and a shortage of young people entering land management are just a few examples of the problems facing the area. The aim of the CVLLP project is to tackle these threats and reverse the rate of decline across the landscape.
"Churnet Valley, lying to the north east of Stoke-on-Trent, has an interesting mixture of rural landscapes and industrial quarries, limekilns, canals and railways. The scheme aims to improve land management and encourage better transport links so that visitors without access to cars can fully enjoy the 20,000ha area, which includes Weaver Hills and Ipstones Edge. Local people will learn new heritage skills such as dry stone walling and hedgelaying with the potential for both paid and voluntary job opportunities."

Went back for the Cauldon Lowe Branch Line diesel gala. The weather was snowy and bitterly cold, which restricted the numbers attending and played havoc with the schedules as equipment and locos froze or broke down. Nevertheless, I got some decent video and snowy photographs of the Caldon Canal, which will surface on the site at some point.

This was the first weekend of the Cauldon Lowe Branch Line reopening gala. I spent Saturday driving and walking around the newly-reopened line and Sunday on the existing C.V.R. Both days were busy but Saturday, in particular, was busier than I've ever seen before. The trains were packed, the stations were packed and every car park and side road with a view of the line was rammed with parked cars and people. Altogether a very successful day for the C.V.R. And the hog roast at the Black Lion was pretty good too.
It was also good to se a good old vegetation bash going on around Froghall Wharf. Since it reopened, in 2005, the basin and surroundings have been steadily reverting to overgrown jungle but Sunday's pruning and tidying should go a long way to bringing it back into order.

The Caldon Canal is closed again. A retaining wall and part of the tow-path has collapsed between Bedford Street Lock 2 and Planet Lock 3 in Shelton. The canal has not been breached but has been drained as a precaution. Details and pictures are on the Canals Trust website.
The collapse is next to a site in the early stages of redevelopment. I suppose it's lucky that it happened now, rather than after completion when it might be occupied, or someone could have been killed.

These signs, for "The Churnet Way", have been appearing all over the valley but, so far, I can't find a reference to it on-line. From what I've seen, there are no new paths involved, so I don't know what it's meant to achieve. In my experience, grouping some paths under a nice-sounding name doesn't guarantee a good walk. A few years back, I wasted some hours of my life trying to follow the "Bonnie Prince Charlie Walk" over stiles buried in hedges and across trackless fields. It started well, between Ashbourne and Longford, but further on I got lost several times and eventually gave up and took to the tarmac at Lees. To be worthy of the name, I'd expect, at the very least, a firm, all-weather surface, kept tidy with regular maintenance, but that's probably wishful thinking.

The C.V.R. and Moorland & City Railways have announced, subject to inspection by the Office of Rail Regulation, that they should be in a position to return the Leekbrook to Cauldon Low line to passenger traffic for a celebration event on the 13th of November 2010.

The breach in the Leek Arm of the Caldon Canal has been repaired and the canal is now open.

Repeated the walk from Stoke to Kingsley Holt. Nothing significant to add to the site, since I've done it all before but it was as good a day out as ever. The food and beer in the Hollybush were particular highlights.
The Railway Inn at Froghall looked like it had reopened but I didn't think I had time to go in, as I was trying to catch a bus. This was a pity and I might as well have stayed, as I missed the bus and, when I eventually got back into Stoke, my train was cancelled.

I've been wandering around Alton in the past week, exploring the old lanes to the east. I'm thinking of starting a new page on old roads and trackways through the area.
First on the list was Saltersford Lane. The bridleway, which was previously a dead-end, has now been extended to meet the Oakamoor to Denstone greenway. It doesn't follow the more-recent footpath towards Denstone but takes the original route into the valley towards Salters Ford or Bridge. Sadly, the last section from the greenway across the river to Quixhill Lane is not to be reinstated.
My second target was Wheel Lane. I hadn't explored this before as it's only marked as a footpath on the OS map. When I came across its junction with Saltersford Lane, though, it was obvious that this had been a substanitial road, too. Close to Alton, it's just a farm track leading to a collection of buildings called "The Wheel" but, beyond this, it's a muddy lane with a line of causey stones, very much like Saltersford. It's in worse condition than Saltersford, with stones lying at all angles and uncut hedges sprawling everywhere. It obviously hasn't had the maintenance that continued horse traffic would have brought. Perhaps it should be upgraded to a bridleway and tidied up.
Finally, I wandered back into Alton via Alton Station. There has been a lot of tree felling over the winter, revealing the down and bay platforms and some passenger walkways running up towards Alton Towers. I have no idea whether this effort is part of the restoration of the railway or just a tidy-up for the station.

Repairs to the breach in the Leek Arm are underway. Follow progress in the Boats and Canals forum Main Photo's Area.

New year, new camera (FinePix J210). Smaller, more pixels and more zoom but still the same idiot taking the pictures. Took it for a road test to the Churnet Valley Railway Winter Steam Gala with results added to the Railway Page. One new feature for me was the ability to zoom while recording video. Unfortunately, the zoom is much too fast and the autofocus can't keep up, so the results can be jerky and blurred. Otherwise, it performed well, despite grey and gloomy conditions. Also had a very welcome, enjoyable day-and-a-half out in what has been a hard winter.
Noticed that the Railway Inn at Froghall was boarded up. I spoke to one of the previous landlords a year-or-two back who reckoned that, although they did OK during the summer, they always struggled for trade during the winter.

Replaced the old 'Bibliography, Links, etc.' page with something a bit better.

The breach at Barnfields is being blamed on a failure of the embankment. Originally, it was speculated that a previously-unknown culvert under the canal had collapsed but this has been found to be in good condition and not to blame. See the details, including photographs, in the Caldon Canal Major Breach thread in the Boats and Canals forum.

My camera's bust! It lost power, suddenly, just after I replaced the batteries. I think a microswitch in the battery compartment has disintegrated. The internet consensus seems to be that getting it fixed out-of-warranty is uneconomical, with high up-front fees being charged just to look at the thing. It's a Fujifilm E900, that I bought in 2006 which, therefore, was beginning to age but, I think, would have been adequate for my purposes for a while, yet. I suppose I'll just have to look for a bargain in the sales, come January. In the short term, I have dug out my old Kodak, which is the size and weight of a small brick and has only a one-megapixel CCD and 2x zoom. It cost me £500 in 1998 and was one of the first "low cost" megapixel cameras.

The full results of the Uttoxeter Canal restoration feasibility study are on the Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust website.
The restoration is feasible, from an engineering point of view, but could cost somewhere around £90,000,000.

The Leek Arm of the Caldon Canal has breached near Barnfields, on the edge of Leek. At around 5:30 in the morning, a 15m stretch of bank collapsed into the valley, draining the Leek Arm and the summit pound of the Caldon. The breach has since been isolated, so that the rest of the canal can be refilled, but the main historic purpose of this canal was to channel water to the summit pound from Rudyard Reservoir, which is now cut off. The BBC has the story here.

After months of rumours, the Churnet Valley Railway has confirmed its expansion plans. Over the next four years, the C.V.R., in conjunction with Moorland & City Railways, will reopen the line form Stoke to Caldon Low and extend the C.V.R. to a new station in Leek, to the North, and to Alton, in the South.

The BBC reports that Consall Hall Gardens is to close for good at the end of October, due to falling visitor numbers bringing in insufficient revenue.

Added an account of the Tour of Britain stage 5.

Repeated the Stoke to Froghall walk. Another cracking day out but I don't know if I need to add anything to the site, seeing as it's a repeat.

Took a little walk (17 miles) from Stoke to Froghall along the Canal. Pictures added.

Consulting engineers Halcrow Group Limited have been appointed to carry out an outline feasibility study for the possible restoration of the Uttoxeter Canal. The full story is on the Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust website.

Moneystone Quarry is set to close in 2010 after expansion plans were refused planning permission. After closure, it will have to be landscaped and/or restored to some other use. Some kind of leisure park has been proposed and I should think both the Churnet Valley Railway and the Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust will be interested. The Leek Post & Times has the details

www.churnet.co.uk goes live.

Purchased domain name www.churnet.co.uk and hosting package from 34sp.com.
Site will relocate when the domain is confirmed as registered.

Lycos have announced that they are shutting down their web hosting, including Tripod, as of 15th February.
So, this site will have to move!

Cherryeye Bridge is an icon of the Caldon Canal. Popular wisdom has it named after a disease of the local ironstone miners, especially those at Cherryeye Mine, nearby. This has always struck me as a strange thing to name a bridge after.
I have a hypothesis, however. According to "Churnet Valley Iron The Mills & The Mines", by Herbert A Chester, the nearby Riddings Farm used to be called Cherry High Farm. Also, the Peak District Mines Historical Society Ltd. record at http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/mhn/1896-C1.htm lists "Cherry High" mine and the Moulds Pits list of "Collieries of the North Staffs Coalfield", at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/robertburden/Mouldspits/cpits.htm records "Cherry Eye or High" mine. It, therefore, seems reasonable to me that the bridge might originally have been "Cherry High" as well. At some time around 1900, the mine name began to be contracted to "Cherryeye" and the bridge probably followed suit.

After a year-or-so of thinking about it, finally got round to adding a Caldon Canal page.

More salmon have been released into the river at Consallforge. See http://www.ukfishersonline.com/ea-salmon-release.html for details.

Added Stoke to Leek pictures.

A 15-mile stroll from Stoke railway station, up the Caldon to Hazlehurst, up the Leek Arm to Barnfields, then in to Leek. Pictures to follow.

Lycos have changed the way adverts work on the site, so it's time to re-format everything and restore some order.

Churnet Valley Railway Diesel Gala.

Churnet Valley Railway Winter Steam Gala. One of the last appearances in steam of 4771 "Green Arrow", plus various other visitors.

Added a new YouTube video for 5197, which was pulling a "Santa and Steam" train. Unfortunately, the weather turned foul and the video is short and a bit blurry, because of the low light levels. It still beats Christmas shopping, though.

Revamped the Churnet Valley Railway page by dividing it into sub-pages and incorporating links to my YouTube account. I've incorporated more new technology to reduce the amount of HTML, which seems to work OK.

Uttoxeter Canal page added along the same lines as the Caldon Low tramroads page. Some weaknesses are evident in the new approach, such as the lack of supporting text for the images and obscuration of the HOME button by the annoying Lycos adverts.

It's been a while, but I'm finally ready to add some new stuff to the site. The weather this summer was the wettest on record but I have a modest backlog of images from the few rain-free days when I made it up to the valley. The first addition is a page on the Caldon Low tramroads, which also features some technology I'm trying out.

Some spring-like weather tempted me into a marathon stroll from Denstone to Endon. This wasn't the original plan, but the bus from Uttoxeter to Alton, where I intended to start the walk, was a figment of the internet's imagination. Never trust anything you read on the internet, except in this site, obviously.

A visit to Tittesworth reservoir. Popular with O.A.P.'s who filled the restaurant and kids on a school trip who loved the adventure playground.

Went for a stomp round the lower valley in the snow.

It took a month to get round to it, but the December gallery is now in there.

A sunny Saturday in December and a new (second-hand) Alfa, so how could I resist an afternoon out? The days are short at this time of year, so I didn't venture far: from Froghall Wharf just as far as the Black Lion at Consallforge. It was interesting enough, just the same. The bare trees let the light in to places obscured by undergrowth and shade in summer. The Churnet Valley Railway was running, which allowed me to add to my little collection of videos on YouTube, under the name churnetvalley. Another, odder visitor was a soviet-era Russian Antonov An-2 biplane, which rumbled slowly overhead in the late afternoon. I've got some decent pictures, including the Black Lion and the Antonov, which I will turn into a gallery shortly.

Due to personal and work commitments, I haven't been up to the valley much recently. I put that right last Saturday with a stroll around the lower valley between Alton and Rocester. Unfortunately, the photographic record of the trip was a bit shoddy so I won't be putting much of it online. A black swan at JCB lakes and Rocester Mill were the dubious highlights, though the Saltersford Lane view of the Weaver Hills was adequate enough to update the index page. On top of that, I crashed my Alfa Romeo the other day, so for the time being I'm rumbling around in a wretched little Ford Ka hire car which I really don't want to drive any more than I can help. For that reason, the weather and Christmas shopping, I suspect that's it for this year. I have some technical updates in prototype, but no time to take them forward.

The Churnet is to become a salmon river after more than 100 years absence. More than 10,000 baby salmon have been released into the river at Consallforge. The BBC news website has the details.

Added "Summer Flowers and Fruit" gallery.

Created a new format for the railway gallery which allows more stuff on the page. This may form the basis of a revamp for some of the other galleries, too.

Found a picture of the DMU at Kingsley and Froghall Station that I forgot I had, so added it to the railway gallery.

More video added to the railway gallery.

The E900 has been for its first outing, rearmed with a 1Gb picture card which can hold around 450 pictures or a mix of pictures and video clips. Things started encouragingly, with many photos being taken in bright sunshine. Then, whilst fumbling around the menu system, I managed to reformat the picture card and lose the lot. Never mind. A pint in the Black Lion restored my mood and allowed me to take a video clip of a steam train from the beer garden. The results are a bit wobbly, due to the lack of a tripod, but I've added it to the Churnet Valley Railway section of this site. I have a small plastic tabletop tripod that I will carry in future which should help, given a convenient fence post. Later, the weather turned cloudy and hazy, ruining my attempts to recreate the shots I'd lost earlier. The low light levels spoiled the colours and made camera shake an issue. The biggest issue of all, of course, is the talent of the photographer (although there is a bit of chromatic aberration to contend with, too).

One Fujifilm E900 Zoom arrived in the post today: 9M pixels and 4x optical zoom. A beautiful little thing with lots of potential, just as soon as I replace the puny 16M memory card. At maximum resolution, this can store only half a dozen images or so and I haven't even attempted movie mode.

Added a bit more to the railway gallery - last outing for the old Kodak, probably.

I'm trying to increase my coverage of the Churnet Valley Railway. I'm not the world's greatest photographer but the limits of my old Kodak digital camera definitely show when I try to shoot moving targets. Nevertheless I've added a gallery of my semi-successful efforts so far. I will be acquiring a new camera soon which will make everything from then on purely my fault.

Added Spring Flowers section.

Updated various pages (including this one) to replace the old green and yellow colour scheme with pale blue and black with new title format.

Added "California Easter" section.

Added contents for "Winter Days Out" section.

Hello new front page and goodbye green and yellow mess. The old front page was getting cluttered and downright ugly so I've replaced it with something cleaner and simpler. Maybe I'll make this my new "corporate identity" - ha, ha.

It's the back end of February and it's still very much winter but today I braved the seas of mud and took a walk along the canal from Froghall to Consall Station and back. On the way, I climbed up the valley side from Cherryeye Bridge to look for Cherryeye Mine (failed) and further on I took a look at the remains of Crowgutter Mill (a pile of rubble). It was good to be out, though, and the BR Standard Tank 80098 (it has no name, apparently) was steaming up and down the Churnet Valley Railway all afternoon, giving me several opportunities for photographs, one or two of which came out OK.

Finally Fully Fixed For Fantastic Firefox Features and corrected some speeling and gramir mistaks too hav I.

Mostly Fixed For Firefox - but the images in the galleries need some work to stop the navigation controls clipping the images. D'oh!

It's St Andrews Day and it's winter. A combination of work, Christmas shopping and the weather mean that I've not been to The Valley since The Walk in October. Time to cuddle a radiator and dream of better days.

Added Leek to Froghall Gallery with improved style sheet.

Reorganised the galleries into river-flow order, i.e. starting from the source in gallery 1 and running down the valley to Denstone, with a few diversions on the way.
The next step will be to redesign the whole lot to make it more maintainable. Then, I hope, I will be able to concentrate more on the content than fiddling with the HTML.

Added Travel section.