Outdoor Discoveries

What originally was a news section for the rest of the website soon became a place for me to write about human-powered wanderings in the countryside. Photography inspires me to get out there, mostly on foot these days, though cycling got me started. Musings on the wider context of outdoor activity complete the picture, so I hope that there is something of interest in all that you find here. Thank you for coming!

Not short on places to go for a stroll

16th February 2012

Before the snow arrived at the start of the month, I took the opportunity to pop out for a lunchtime from work to take in The Carrs in Wilmslow. Though I’d skirted the public park a fair few times, it was the first time that I’d deliberately walked through the place only to realise that there was one part of it that I had glimpsed before without realising where I was gazing. That the River Bollin passes through makes the oversight that bit more remarkable to my eyes. It’s amazing how not looking at a map can cause you to miss things and prospects of an evening stroll to Macclesfield after work when daylight hours are longer come to mind. That sort of plan has surfaced before only for nothing to come of it so we’ll have to see about it happening in reality.

River Bollin in The Carrs, Wilmslow, Cheshire

The Carrs aren’t the only spot available for anyone to do a spot of strolling in Wilmslow and I am more familiar with the delights of Lindow Common, particularly that part of it which surrounds Black Lake. Sometimes, it freezes too, though only foolhardy souls would venture on the surface then. It is fenced off too, so that puts paid to any such temptations. A recent sorry tale about a little dog meeting an untimely end on an icy pond in Macclesfield (a local fire brigade team couldn’t help because they had no boat and needed to wait for a team from Knutsford who were too late when they came; it’s happenings like this that explain why folk come a cropper on icy rivers while rescuing daring foolish pets but it was just as well that it wasn’t a child who was involved)  might explain the fencing but for the fact that this also is a haven for water voles, a far more cheery development since they are in peril elsewhere. Wildfowl congregate here too and were concentrated on the one part of the lake’s surface that was unfrozen on the day when I captured the image you see below.

A frozen Black Lake, Lindow Common, Wilmslow, Cheshire, England

With both of these spots not far from my workplace, I should be better at making time for little lunchtime escapades than I am. Recent outings kept telling me that my legs needed more acclimatisation and these are two options that should do the trick; they just need the making of time during a busy workday. Maybe those longer evenings could help yet.

Comment:

  • Bill Murney from 'Walks In Tameside' says:

    Hi John

    We all like to travel and walk footpaths in other parts of the country but many don’t realise the great walking we have on our own doorstep.

    I must admit to visiting the popular places in the White Peak when Macclesfield and Buxton are far nearer.

    Bill

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