We’re fortunate to live within easy reach of a lot of beautiful walks, and one of our favourites is Dove Stone Reservoir in Greenfield. It was somewhere we spent a lot of time when the girls were very small, but since lockdown we’ve given it a wide berth as the majority of Greater Manchester discovered it and made it a bit of a nightmare.
But when the weather’s just passable and most people are back to living normal lives, you can get in a quiet couple of hours which is just what we did on this excursion.
Susan had found an orienteering guide for the reservoir, with a number of increasingly difficult routes so, rather than stick to the usual circular walk, we decided to go ever-so-slightly off the beaten track to see if we could complete one of the easier trails. I think the idea is to find the way markers as quickly as you can, but we settled for traditional walking speed – stopping to climb trees, look out for dogs and admire the stunning scenery.
We certainly wouldn’t have won any competitions at the pace we were going.
Some of the markers can be seen from the regular path, so we didn’t have to go too far out of our way, but there were a couple of tricky little blighters, and one (M) that we couldn’t find at all. So rather than the fairly steady walk we’re used to, we were forced a little bit out of our comfort zone in order to mark off the waypoints. It definitely made it that bit more interesting, and we’d be keen to have another go – perhaps tackling the next hardest route.
You can find out more information about orienteering in Greater Manchester by visiting Greater Manchester Orienteering Activities.
Parking at Dove Stone costs £1 for 2 hours, £2 for four hours. There are toilets on site, but they’re not the fanciest – they’ll pass if you’re desperate. There’s sometimes an ice cream van or butty wagon if it’s a weekend or a school holiday but, again, don’t count on it being there.
