A Chester to Eccleston Round 20th November 2024

 

The River Dee and Chester Wier from the Handbridge road bridge.

The River Dee and Chester Weir.

The River Dee, Chester Weir and Salmons Leap

Chester Weir.

The information board about Chester Earl's Eye Meadows.

On the path adjacent to the Meadows.

On the wintery path heading towards Eccleston.

St. Mary's Church, Eccleston, taken from the riverside path.

A female Mallard.

The drake Mallard.

St. Mary's Church, Eccleston.

The impress gates to St. Mary's Church, Eccleston.

Duke's Drive.

Autumnal leaves on Duke's Drive.

The Chester entrance to Duke's Drive.

The River Dee looking towards Handbridge from the Grosvenor Road Bridge.

Back at the cross in Chester.

In the rows, heading for Godstall Lane and liquid refreshment.

Walk stats: 8.6 / 12 miles. Includes walking to and from Upton for Fran and Nigel. Climb: 150’,
Time: 3 hours 45 minutes. Overall Walk average: 2.2 m.p.h.
Temperature: 5 Celsius to 8 Celsius, although in the bright sunshine around mid-day, it felt much warmer.
Beaufort Wind Force: 0 Not measured, but no noticeable wind was felt throughout the walk, so we can confidently say it was pretty calm.
Group: Martyn, Nigel and Fran.
I had an appointment for an RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) Vaccination, we ended up having a walk from Chester to Eccleston leaving Northgate Street at about 10-00. The outward route took along the riverside path to Eccleston, and the return route took us along Duke’s Drive.
As expected, the riverside path was quite muddy and waterlogged in places, but at least it wasn’t icy. There was still plenty of snow lying on the adjacent fields, but it was warm enough for the snow o have thawed on any pavements we walked on.
Lunch was taken, using a bench near to the footpath leading directly to Eccleston Church. It was very pleasant sitting in the warm sunshine, watching a pair of Mallards going through courtship and more.
We saw lots of people out walking dogs and while we had lunch several people went past were out just enjoying walking on this bright and sunny day.
Birds seen or heard included: Jackdaw, Herring gull, Eurasian jay, Black billed magpie, Moorhen, Black headed gull, Mallard, Common blackbird, Long-tailed tit, Cetti warbler, Winter wren, European robin, Eurasian jay and Woodpigeon.
Overall, a very enjoyable walk, it would have been a crime, if we had decided not to walk, just because it was cold and the MET Office had put out an Ice Warning on the roads.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at Duttons in Godstall Lane, Chester. This is J.W Lees venue. It was disappointing to find that Traditional Les bitter is never stocked and Lees MPA is the only real ale that was on offer. However, this light refreshing brew did go down well, but I was impressed by having to ask several times for the glass to be topped up. At £5-15 a pint, I wasn’t going to accept short measures!
I decided to catch the 15-02 bus home, and despite the bus filling up with school children from Catholic High, I was home by 15-30, in time to clean my boots before the Sun went down.
I did however use warm water, rather that use the feezing cold water from the water butt!