Crosby & Formby Beaches

Distance: 4.5 + 8.1 miles
Ascent: a couple of sand dunes
Weather: bright, one short rain shower
Iron Men, oyster catchers, gulls inc lesser black backed, sanderlings, red squirrel

A visit to Crosby Beach to see Another Place sculptures by Antony Gormley. Sorry, Sir Antony Gormley. We parked at the northern end of the promenade and walked along the beach among them to the southern end, and then back.

Then we drove to the car park at Lifeboat Road Formby, stopping to get some m&s sandwiches for lunch from a petrol station on the way. We walked up to the picnic area, visited the squirrels (saw one up in the tree tops that wasn't amenable to having its photo taken) and then headed out onto the sands. A brief shower resulted in some new camera faffing, but it was soon over.

We returned back along the beach to the car park, the last bit over the sand dunes was the most strenuous part of the day.

Martin Mere

Distance: 6 miles abouts
Ascent: none
Weather: sunny start, chilly

We walked from Lathom village (staying at Briar Hall hotel, where we've been upgraded to the executive suite!) to Martin Mere via the canal and rather muddy field paths and lanes.

Skylark
Jay
Shelduck
Whooper Swan
Moorhen (insulted)
Coot
Mallard
Blackbird
Magpie
Pigeon
Wood pigeon
Black tailed godwit
Pintail
Buzzards
Marsh harrier
Teal
Lapwing
Wigeon
Redshank
Cormorant
Grey heron
Snipe
Reed bunting
Fancy Rat
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Robin
Blue tit
Common gull
Little egret
Great Black backed gull
Crow
Jackdaw
Tufty ducks
Sparrowhawk
Ruff
Pheasant
Pochard
Little grebe
Kestrel (Rob)

Burton Mere RSPB

Cold, overcast day. Brightened by a hot chocolate by a warm fire in the reception hide.

Black headed gull
black tailed godwit
Blue tit
Canada goose
Chaffinch
Coot
Cormorant
Crow
Curlew
Dunlin
Fieldfare
Gadwall
Goldfinch
Great tit
Grey heron
Greylag
hen harrier
jackdaw
Lapwing
Little egret
Mallard
Marsh harrier
Moorhen
Mute Swan
Redshank
Robin
Shelduck
Shoveller
Snipe
Teal
Tree Sparrow
Tufty
Wigeon
wren
yellow legged / lesser black backed gull??

Chester Zoo

Distance: 20 miles or thereabouts
Ascent: none
Weather: cold

Am early birthday weekend away to visit the zoo, we stayed at the Mecure hotel near Christleton and decided to walk there and back.

We took the longer route along the Shropshire Union Canal, which was nice,  although there were no pavements around the entrance to the zoo and we had to cross some busy main roads. This wasn't too bad on the way in, but at closing time it was difficult.

A fun but cold day at the zoo, we saw a red panda, baby elephants and discovered an exciting new variety of squirrel.

As it was getting dark when we left, we decided to follow the roads rather than the canal, via the city centre, calling in for a drink along the way.

Leighton Moss

It was very busy with people who thought it would be a quiet day. I coughed a lot.

Blue tit
Coal tit
Great tit
Pheasant
Bullfinch
Dunnock
Blackbird
Wood pigeon
Treecreeper
Mallard
Chaffinch
Robin
Tree Sparrow
Fieldfare
Pintail
Marsh harrier
Water rail
Goldfinch
Redwing
Wigeon
Cormorant
Grey heron
Gadwall
Little grebe
Tufty
Snipe
Siskin
Bittern
Magpie 6
Otter
Shoveller
Coot
Lapwing
Greylag
Moorhen
Curlew
Little egret
Redshank
Dunlin
Shelduck
Crow
Black headed gull
Golden plover
Teal
Mute Swan
Red breasted merganser (unverified)

Around Loughrigg

Distance: 11.3 miles
Ascent: 600m
Weather: cold and clear
1 Splinter
Lots: Robins and buzzards (possibly in cahoots)

We went up Loughrigg by Fox Ghyll as we've not been that way before. It was quite icy and the ground was hard underfoot.

We bimbled around the fringes of the fell, enjoying the peace and quiet and views over to Fairfield and Skiddaw in the distance with snowy tops. Eventually we got nearer the top and into the crowds, stopping for lunch in a sheltered spot just under the summit, where we had a steady update on Molly* the dog's location.

We descended via the bridleway towards Loughrigg Tarn, and then visited our arboretum again. It was dusk as we arrived at the shoreline of Grasmere,  and a thin moon and Venus were clearly visible above the trees. The stones along the River Rothay were quite icy slippy, and led to a lad taking a tumble, he was unhurt just a little embarrassed,  and now I remember I said we saw nothing.  So that didn't happen.

The corpse road was very quiet, as was the lane from Rydal Hall. We met a chap who made the mistake of asking me what star is that?... while pointing at Venus.

We walked back into Ambleside along the road, passing the queue of cars trying to get through town. We are now at the White Lion pub, where they appear to be running out of food.

*names have been changed to protect the innocent

Bowness to Ambleside

Distance: 8.8 miles
Ascent:
Weather: cold and sunny

After a hearty breakfast at Daisy's Café, we took the steamer down to Bowness.  The speed of the boat cancelled out the wind, so it wasn't as cold as we'd anticipated.

It was still pretty cold walking along the road to Windermere,  although we warmed up going up to Orrest Head.

I got muddy feet in the cow field at the farm at Near Orrest, it was quite squelchy underfoot in many places but mostly good going. The bridge is still out over Trout Beck at Town End,  so we walked along to Troutbeck before following Robin Lane along by High Skelghyll and Jenkin's Crag. There was an impressive sunset and short snow shower.