27 members met at Rudyard Lake Light Railway Station car park on Wednesday 10th December 2025, for the 6.5 mile walk to be led by Dave Martin. Recent heavy rain had caused flooding in nearby fields, so Dave was hoping that his chosen route would not be affected. We set off to walk alongside Rudyard Lake on the right side, by the railway track. The level of the lake had visibly risen after the dry summer, and now the sun was reflecting on the water and the properties across on our left making a charming picture. Having walked the whole of the lakeside, we took a slight turn left onto the bridge, and stopped for a drinks break. There are bird feeders hanging on the trees here, and there was plenty of activity, with sparrows, robins, blue tits and nuthatch (this bird identified by Jill) flying around, completed by a buzzard soaring overhead.
We retraced our steps slightly to walk away from the water and enter into fields. Although it was muddy in places near to stiles, in the fields conditions underfoot weren't too wet, especially as we were walking uphill at this stage to Great Hough, and then to Birch Trees Farm. We continued with field walking and crossed some awkward slippy stiles into a lane, where we crossed over into Daisy House Lane. A short way along we took a path on the left to walk up a steep track to Daisy House Bank. From there we continued into Horton Village, and stopped for lunch beside the Church of St. Michael. Some lovely views here from the churchyard, and a group photo was taken in front of the lych-gate, followed by a rendition of Happy Birthday for our leader.
(The word "lych-gate" is derived from the Middle English word "lich" meaning a corpse or dead body. This type of gate, with a roof as shelter from the rain, was where the coffin was laid during a funeral to await the arrival of the clergyman.)
After our break we followed the lane downhill, and then more field paths for the final mile down to Rudyard, to return to the cars. A lovely walk again in mild conditions.
