Around Swettenham 8th March 2008

I stop to take a photo and they all run off!


Walk stats: Distance: 9.3 miles; Climb:1000'.
Time:4 hours 5 minutes; Walking average: 2.7 m.p.h.; Overall walk average: 2.3 m.p.h.
Group:Martyn, Richard, Roger, Dave J. and Sylvia, Dave and Sue P.

This walk was a little shorter than what has become our usual length of walk of late. This however we thought was likely to be to our advantage as the weather forecast was for continuous rain and very windy. Thankfully this forecast proved to be wrong, and we experienced dry and quite sunny spells throughout the walk, and the only drops of rain felt just after getting back to the car.

This was a walk that pleasantly surprised us. It was a pleasant stroll around what was very obviously an area of Cheshire lived in by the rich and wealthy. Thankfully we didn't see too many of them, but could enjoy walking on the paths across their well maintained land. he walk stated by going around Brereton Heath Country Park, a lovely area around a lake cared for by Cheshire County Council, and very popular with dog walkers. The walk followed much of the Dane Valley Way where we frequently got glimpses of the river as it meandered across the valley floor, forming loops that we no doubt soon form ox-bow lakes. This walk has potential for being a good walk to do in late spring when all of the migrant birds are back and the wild flowers are blooming. A good walk for a Thursady outing perhaps. Lunch was taken on the with the River Dane meandering on its way about twenty feet away from us. Sylvia provided us with a piece of excellent fruit cake that sounded too good to be true - no sugar and no fat!

Birds seen or heard today included: Nuthatch, Great-spotted woodpecker, Blue tit, Long-tailed tit, Great tit, Black-headed gull, Greenfinch, House sparrow, Woodpidgeon, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Rook, Buzzard, Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Canada goose and Cormorant.

The best sighting of the day was a Brown hare that raced across the field in front of us as we approached the Tremlow Aquaduct.

After walk drinks were taken at the Swettenham Arms at Swettenham, a very popular eating place for the Cheshire set, perhaps not really our kind of place, and certainly not the place I remember from my last visit a few decades earlier. However they did still serve real ales, and brews from Beartown and Hydes were the best on offer.