Pond Skaters

Things at home are fractious. It was deemed 'a good idea' to go for a family walk so we took a drive out to Rudyard Lake. A circuit around the water is just over 5 miles and as it turns out, a lovely walk so it was mostly a positive experience.

Youngest walked down to the foot of the dam with me to look at the narrow cut that runs away towards Leek to feed the Caldon Canal. The weekend prior a visit to find the top end of the canal was rained off, so after returning to the car I suggested we take the short drive & stroll to find it. There was agreement but on reflection it was a bad idea. The paths were rough and there was also a field of bulls to traverse which bothered some of us more than others. I had a bad experience walking through a field of cows decades ago, have a healthy fear of them & would have been happy walking back the longer way :-/

Group tetchiness returned and we returned home. I'm really not motivated to take us all out again. We have a family holiday booked for the end of the month and am not looking forward to that either. It's all stress when things like that should be about 'time out' & relaxing.

Blip is of some Pond Skaters on a calm area of the canal feeder system at Rudyard. The feeder at the Caldon Canal end was fascinating and I will return again for a nosey at it. The whole thing reminded me of the system of Levadas on the island of Madeira.