20 Nov 24 Pickmere / Arley Loop Leaders: Rob & Liz, Length of walk: 9 miles, Driving Distance: 17 miles, Number walking: 12
Click here for the route taken.
The sun shone throughout the walk but the snow on the ground confirmed that the temperature was low. However cold the walkers felt, the low temperature did not deter a couple of men immersing themselves in Pickmere Lake. When advised that the nearby signs forbid entering the water, the chatty one indicated that he didn’t care. The bundle of clothes the men left on the lakeside had gone when the group returned although a woman was then making furtive attempts to repeat the forbidden act.
The path followed the edge of the lake up to Dark Lane, which the group followed to Great Budworth. The walkers sat in the sunshine on the south side of the church and enjoyed the delicious cake Liz had made.
After the coffee stop, the walkers headed for Antrobus across fields and quiet roads but turned off before the village welcome sign to aim for Arley Hall. They discovered that the temperature had not fallen low enough to freeze the mud, so there was much squelching in the fields.
Rob apologise that he had not found anywhere to sit at Arley for lunch, but the back marker piped up that he remembered some picnic tables on a previous visit. However, he failed to find any seating and when checking the pictures showing his family enjoying an Arley Hall picnic table, he realised that a lot has happened since 1983.
The group crossed more fields before passing the ice cream farm at Great Budworth and in one of them the group was mobbed by a rampaging herd of horses armed with loads of teeth and hooves. In spite of the severe provocation, none of the walkers was knocked over or damaged. It was like being with Armand and Michaela Denis on the Serengeti Plain in the 1950s!
From Great Budworth church the walkers retrace their steps back to Pickmere and discovered that the muddy fields had neither dried up nor frozen hard.
