Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

Today, the Three Amigos were out and about enjoying a 6-mile walk at Watermead Country Park north of Leicester. The park is a network of lakes, woodland and nature reserve created from 340 acres of ex-gravel workings along the River Soar. https://leicscountryparks.org.uk/parks/watermead-country-park/

The weather forecast was for a sunny morning, however, as we arrived the day was grey and overcast. Still, we were hopeful that the mist would eventually burn off.

I had downloaded a route that someone had put on OS Maps so we set off following this route. We soon discovered that the route was nonsense and so abandoned it. However, we did take a look in a two- level bird hide – it was very substantial. The mist was slowly lifting 😊.

All was quiet and still, just the odd dog walker or jogger here and there. We passed a container adjacent to a lake which had interesting graffiti painted on it – the container belongs to the Leicester Sup board club.

The path in this section was well constructed and Chris was setting a quick pace. He was targeting 3.4 mph.

Soon we were crossing a bridge over the River Soar. The water was moving swiftly following the recent rain and the level was high.

As we followed the River Soar we passed boats moored along the bank – smoke was billowing from their chimneys. It was a chilly morning.

We were now walking on muddy towpath – the pace dropped as we avoided slipping on the mud.

We walked beside Leicester Marina.

Reaching another lake we saw a lot of birds and a rat!

We climbed a hill where we found a Mammoth sculpture on top. The sculpture is called Silent Witness by Daniel Jones and is constructed from steel and concrete Apparently, the remains of a Woolly Mammoth have been found in the valley – 10,000 years have passed since the last mammoth passed this way.

Contrary to popular belief, the woolly mammoths were not really giants by appearance, but roughly the same size as modern African elephants, standing at heights of up to 12 feet at the shoulder and weighing about 12 tons. Their dense fur reached a length of up to a meter and had a fine undercoat of wool. Their ears and tail were small so as to avoid frost blisters.

Further along we came across a Polar Bear! He was a friendly chap and didn’t bite 😊

We crossed another bridge adjacent to a weir.

We passed some anglers fishing by the river. One was landing a large bream just as we passed by – he told Mick it was his eighth of the morning! The sun was out and it was blue sky heaven- wonderful!

Soon we were arriving back at the car. It had been a lovely walk – it’s always nice walking by water. There is more to explore at the Park so we will do that another day.

Happy Walking! 😊🚶