Bugger, bugger, bugger!

[Lizzie_Claymore]

Last night I drove to my favourite muddy pond and, after about 50 mins of driving, 15 mins of cycling and then as much again traipsing across fields, I encountered one of the stiles I needed to get over (in order to traverse the field leading to the one where the pond is located) and found that it had been boarded up and a big 'Keep Out' hand-painted sign that had obviously been put there by the farmer.

Now, I don't think they're actually allowed to do that anyway as it's a footpath marked on the OS map but, irrespective of that, it's fairly obvious that the attitude of the farmer is that anyone in his fields is most certainly not welcome!

I carried on along the long-distance path that continues through another field (which was open and clear - presumably he thought he couldn't get away with blocking a clearly marked long-distance trail!) and managed to find a way through the fence into 'my' field so that I could go and have a quick look at the pond. That's when I got another surprise - the pond used to be fairly small with lots of lovely soft clay all round the bank on one side. However, between last year and now, it's been dredged out and enlarged so there's hardly any mud bank!

I suppose I could have gone in then (although it was getting quite late due to my detours) but, as if being found cross-dressed and sploshing around weren't bad enough, the prospect of having an irate farmer to deal with as well was not particularly appealing so I called it a day and headed for home.

I used to have several locations I could call on but over the last few years, they've all been 'improved' in this sort of way. One of my favourites from a few years ago was a spectacularly quaggy bridlepath that was so bad that nobody ever used it (except me!). The council put in drainage and hardcored it so that was that.

If anyone knows of any nice secluded soft clay or mud locations around north Cheshire/South Lancashire, I'd welcome a PM as this was the last of the batch I knew about.

Regards,
C_W.