The Dee and Old Railway Track Round 9th January 2010.

Waiting for everyone at the start of the walk. Along the River Dee nar the Saltney Ferry footbridge.

Lunch time - waiting Georgie!

The last stretch along the old railway track / cycleway.

On the old railway track / cycleway.

Walk stats: distance:11.7 miles; Climb:255'.

Time:4 hours 37 minutes; On the move walking average:2.9 m.p.h.;Overall walk average:2.5 m.p.h.

Group:Martyn, Richard, Roger, Fran, Dave J., Sylvia and Georgie, and Sue and Dave P. This was the second of our hastily rearranged walks to avoid travelling too far in cars wit icy conditions on the roads.

It was good to have Sue and Dave Pearson on the walk with us, even if they did escape early to return to collect their grandchildren.

This turned out to be another glorious Winter walk, with blues skies and bright sunshine, but without the cold Easterly wind that had been forecast.

the walk started from the suspension bridge in Chester and headed past the racecourse and along the river path towards Saltney Ferry. Conditions had been cold for some time and part of the river had frozen over, and near the footbridge, sheets of ice could be seen floating seaward, one of which had a gull hitching a ride.

The section along the river was good for birdwatching too, with the highlights including close up views of flying Grey herons as well as rafts of Wigeon (over 100 birds) near the barge terminal for the A380 wing .

The link route to the cycleway was easier than expected, after initially being kept on track using the map on Martyn's new Memory Map GPS.

The only unpleasant part of the walk was the short section of the busy Chester to Queensferry Sealand Road as far as Church Farm.

The walk on the old railway track / cycleway was delightful too, with the highlight being the impressive tree wood carvings just before arriving at the old Balcon Station.

From Blacon we walked back into Chester along the Ellesmere Port Canal, made interesting with much of it being frozen over. We even saw two Mute swans taking shelter in the one of the covered boat builders docks where there was still some unfrozen water.

The last part of the walk from the Water Tower to Lower Bridge Street was along the city walls.

Birds seen or heard today included: Mute swan, mallard, Teal, Little grebe, Moorhen, Feral pigeon, Woodpigeon, Collared dove, Kestrel, Buzzard, Blue ti, Great tit, Long-tiled tit, Bulfinch, Chaffinch, Wigeon, Redshank, Cormorant, Carrion crow, Song thrush, Blackbird, Black-billed magpie, Robin, Wren, Fieldfare, Redwing, House sparrow, Black-headed gull, Herring gull, Pied wagtail and Goldfinch.

A perfect walk was rounded off by enjoying drinks at the Bear and Billet in Chester. The Phoenix Arizona bitter went down well as we recovered from our efforts. Surely this warm friendly hostelry must be one of the best, if not the best, CAMRA recommended pubs in Chester.