Today, we embarked on our longest walk to date: 8.5 miles around Carsington Water.
Starting at the visitor centre, we made our way across the dam. At the other end, we found a huge stone with a plaque containing lots of facts about the reservoir. A little further on, there was a memorial for the four young men who lost their lives during the construction of the dam.
Looking back towards the visitor centre 
Looking forwards across the dam 
Finding out about the reservoir 
Key facts 
The memorial
We followed the signs around the reservoir, through lots of ‘nature tunnels’, as TK liked to call them.
Following the signs 
My personal favourite! 
A ‘nature tunnel’
On our way to Fish Tail Creek, we stumbled across two naughty lambs, who had escaped from their field. The water in the creek looked very green compared to the clear water in the main part of the reservoir.
Naughty lambs 
Fish Tail Creek
After the creek and a woodland walk, we finally arrived at the northern tip of the reservoir. By this time, the sun was pretty warm and there wasn’t a lot of shade. However, we kept going and finally came across a shady picnic bench (and hundreds of geese) for lunch.
The northern tip of the reservoir 
View from our picnic bench (all the black specks are geese)
The final leg of the walk took us past a bird hide. We stopped for a quick look at the view and ducks, before arriving back at the visitor centre for a well-deserved hot chocolate and one of Grandma’s buns.
Walk to the hide 
The wildlife centre