Yarrow Valley Country Park

It's a bit cloudy this morning. As we set off from this excellent car park at Yarrow Valley Country Park, it being the school holidays, there were quite a lot of cars on the car park, but it was by no means full.

              Immediately on leaving the car park we passed the children's play area.

We were all taken by this wild flower garden alongside the lake. The ever sociable John got into conversation with the lady across from him, who was a keen bird watcher.

                                It's always nice to see a family of swans.

As we set off along this broad flat path, we were lulled into a false sense of security. It has to be admitted, some of the paths were very good, some not so good, and some challenging, but it all ads to the fun of it.

This path or should i say track, (for I don't thing this has been done just for walkers) seems to have been constructed from pebbles and bricks from the sea shore. Because of the amount of bricks in the mix, we wondered if it had come from the beach near Formby where they dumped a lot of the bomb damage from Liverpool after the war.

Our next path, to get here was much narrower and involved crossing a brook. The hefty steps which had been laid to provide an easy crossing for visitors had succumbed to subsidence, so care was needed on the slippery steps to get here safely.

Dry Bones Cottage had a large pair of heavy wooden gates blocking the entrance. The origin of the name I don't know, but the cottage was burned down in 2010 in an arson attack. The fire engine was unable to get down the bumpy road, to get to it, and the cottage had no water or electricity supply.

                                        Our path climbed up away from the river.

                                                            Then back down again.

                                   As always there is the must have bridge shot.

                                                                     Oh !! Sorry.😉.

                               There must be some very large beavers in this area.

Some of the steps we encountered would have caused no problem for us in our younger days, (but, dare I say, in our twilight years), for those with artificial joints, they do pose a problem. But it would take more than that to deter Vic.

Dinner in a shady Glen. After dinner we backtracked a short way to an alternative path which led up a bank, away from the river, from the start, the path was muddy. As we progressed it got very muddy. As we started the climb up the bank, the wooden steps which were likewise very muddy, were all but rotted away. Not deterred but beginning to have second thoughts, John and I who were in the lead became aware that our companions, nay, friends, were not following our adventurous example. Looking down, then looking up, we decided that we had come too far to turn back. John shouted back to the others to take the alternative path, and we would meet up with them further on were the paths meet. The final part of our climb was even worse, as the bank got steeper, but eventually we triumphed over adversity, as the saying goes.

We met up again on the edge of a housing estate. The path from here back to the car park posed no problem and we were soon sat outside the cafe alongside the car park enjoying an afternoon brew. Thanks for a good walk John, very enjoyable, for my part the muddy bank added to the fun.                                         DK