I think we hit what’s called a weather-window. The fog and mist that had been around all Christmas had cleared and the Arctic air and snow forecast for the weekend hadn’t yet arrived. Even the buses and trains all seemed to be running on time. What could possibly go wrong? One thing I hadn’t expected was that the path around the reservoir would be closed because of ice. Fair play to the staff on duty though, they were carrying out regular inspections and opened the paths at the earliest ice-free opportunity.
We learnt about the history of the reservoirs and got some insider knowledge about some unusual birds visiting the water; American ring neck duck, black throated diver and a penguin (in the café). I particularly liked the colourful little grebes that kept diving and reappearing somewhere different.
We adapted our plans and took an early coffee break and as if my magic the path opened for us to start walking at noon. We kept in the sunshine on the upper path rather than venture down into the wood which would have been pretty soggy after all the recent rain. We did however have an opportunity to admire the work of the Ordnance Survey and specifically a river used for measuring height. This one is 47.122m high.
