Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

Christmas is very nearly upon us and I guess that we are all looking forward to this special time of year and the magic of Christmas. I am hoping for a white Christmas but its far too mild!

This morning I met up with Mick to do an 8 mile walk along the Grantham canal to Denton Reservoir followed by a walk along the disused railway track back to Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir.

It is very difficult at the moment to find walks that do not involve too much walking across mud laden fields. This walk was chosen because it mostly avoids poor footpaths although we did pass along side a very muddy bridleway.

It was a cloudy and dull morning as we set off close to the Dirty Duck pub at Woolsthorpe -by-Belvoir.

The towpath was quiet all of the 3 miles to Harlaxton Bridge. There were a multitude of Swans along the canal. It is always a joy to see these majestic and beautiful birds.

We passed my favourite bridge – the Casthorpe bridle bridge – and noticed the cracks in the brickwork so this might need repairing in the near future.

When we reached Denton Reservoir we took a seat and had a cuppa.

The reservoir was the lowest that I have seen it so that was very surprising given the recent weather. We were also surprised to see a dead swan and 3 dead fish ( these were big fish) close to the edge – something that we have never seen before and wondered what had caused their deaths.

Leaving the reservoir it was a walk along muddy paths into Denton then along the road to pick up the disused railway line back to Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir. This was a good dry path.

A steady walk brought us back to our cars. A good stretch of the legs and we did’nt get too muddy!.

My 2,000 mile challenge is getting tantalisingly close now with only 14 miles left to walk to reach it 😊😊.

Happy walking!