A WALK ROUND LAKE YSCEIFIOG

As it was a lovely bright morning, we decided we would go into Mold and visit the market.  It was dual purpose because we needed to do a “recce” for tomorrow because we are meeting a friend there who is going to lead us into Wrexham, where we are are going to Church and there may be road closures because of the Remembrance Sunday Parade.  We had a good time and I even managed to buy a couple of Christmas presents.

After lunch we thought we would try walking round Lake Ysceifiog, the lake on which The Boathouse is situated.  The owner, who lives next door in a beautiful house, told us that we had to walk until we reached the duckboards and then just carry on round the lake and then back to The Boathouse, which sounded quite easy.   I must confess I didn’t think it would be so far, although according to my Fitbit, we haven’t walked that great a distance - it was just that the path was rather uneven in places, quite narrow and with lots of leaves on the ground, as well as roots of trees and lots of stones, so I had to go quite slowly.  I wasn’t that worried about slipping into the lake, I was more concerned about my cameras and phone getting wet if I did slip!

Mr. HCB had his binoculars out and was watching the water birds, particularly those flying and there were plenty of them.  He told me he saw Little Grebes, Shelducks, Mallards, Gadwalls, Teal, Tufted Ducks and Coots - the swan was nowhere to be seen this afternoon.  We also saw two Buzzards and a Jay.  The light was wonderful, as you will see from the collage, and it was good to see where we are staying from the other side of the lake - see the main photograph.

I have put in a shot of the duckboards that were quite narrow and looking at them now, I am quite proud of the fact that I made it across them!  Interestingly, looking up the definition of duckboards, I came across the following - quite pertinent this Remembrance weekend:

Most of the land on the Western Front was only a couple of feet above sea level. As soon as soldiers began to dig trenches they would invariably find water just below the surface. Constantly standing in water caused trench foot and other ailments. In an attempt to alleviate the problem, wooden planking, known as duckboards, were placed at the bottom of trenches and across other areas of muddy or waterlogged ground.

The patch we were crossing was certainly very waterlogged and we had to be very careful, although it did have chicken wire on the boards to prevent slipping.

Once we had crossed the lake, the walking was much easier and the grass banks were quite wide - again, the light was wonderful and looking back - see the top right photograph, you can see what I mean.  

As we walked we were able to take in more because it was wider and we weren’t constantly having to watch our feet, so were pleased when we came across this purple mushroom - which I think may be a violet webcap - we left it there, as we didn’t know whether or not it was an edible one.  Of course, there is also the obligatory “selfie” just to show we were both here and walking.

As we finished our walk, the light changed again, and you can see how beautiful it was in the bottom left of the collage.

No sooner had we got in and changed our muddy boots then the rain came down - we were very fortunate to finish our walk in the dry and we are now in front of a roaring fire - a friend of mine said that I wouldn’t want to come home - she may be right!  

Today I am grateful for:

1.  A lovely walk round Lake Ysceifiog and safety whilst walking
2.  Beautiful views of The Boathouse and the gorgeous autumn colours
3.  A roaring fire to warm us up.

P.S. I am grateful to you for all your kind comments, stars and heart, but apologise for not responding - the signal is not that good - I’m just about able to post my Blip each day.