Cheshire Walks Walks for: the nearly fit, better health, big dogs, and occasional birdwatchers

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Cheshire Walks isn't just a series of walks in and around this beautiful county. Though if you are just looking for a new walk, you may well find it. If you are someone who is wary of setting out on a walk you've got from a book, or a website, because those books are written by super-fit individuals who walk up mountains for fun and just don't see the problems that a small slope might cause, then this is the place for you. I'm choosing routes with an eye to different fitness levels, and there will be easy, and moderate routes eventually. But it takes time to research, walk, photograph and describe a new route, so it will be a little while before my compendium of walks becomes the rich resource I intend it to be.

Many health problems, like hypertension, are improved by exercise. In fact my recent resurrection of interest in walking was a direct result of health problems. I quickly realised that my lack of activity over the winter months had left me incredibly unfit and so I had to start off with easy walks as i built up my fitness levels to what they used to be. In the process I realised that this process could be of huge health benefits to others who need to get fit, but, like me, have no interest in pounding away on a treadmill with music blasting in my ears and sweaty bodies all around.

Walking is one of the best forms of exercise available. Because it is no-impact there is no additional damage to joints or vertebrae. It can be as gentle as you like, and just by slowly increasing your speed (which happens naturally as fitness levels increase) more Calories are burned and cardio-vascular benefits abound. Added to that you get to enjoy beautiful scenery, this county's wonderful industrial heritage, a magical display of wildflowers and a suberb variety of habitats that attract a whole host of bird species. I was standing on the banks of the River Weaver yesterday morning surrounded by a huge flock of swifts, they were flying so close i could hear the wind of their passage. It was so peaceful.

Being in nature reconnects us and allows all of those stress hormones to just leak away. Walking in peaceful surroundings is about as good as it gets as far as stress reduction goes. Take your time, take a picnic, and just enjoy being out. Right in the midst of this busy, industrial county, you can find pockets of peace - but you need to grab your boots, a coat and get yourself to that starting flag if you want to reap the benefits.

 

With absolutely no connection to the above, this site may also prove of value to owners of large breed dogs. Generally speaking large breeds need a fair bit of exercise, but they are also far too heavy to lift over the stiles and gates that the rest of us manage to clamber over. As I research the walks you will find on this site, I pay will pay attention to the ease of getting a large breed dog around the walk.

I'm an occasional birdwatcher. I know my bullfinches from my buzzards, terns from turnstones, and pochards from puffins. I'm just not serious about it. I like to take a pair of binoculars with me when I go out - just in case. That's what I mean by occasional birdwatcher. Birdwatching adds another layer of interest to walking for any other reason. It connects you to habitats, and seasons. For me at least, I like to come across something unexpected, like the avocets I saw yesterday, or I look forward to hearing the first chiffchaff of the year because that means spring has arrived. All you need is a pair of half decent binoculars, and a field guide, to add another dimension to your walks. Serious birdwatchers will, undoubtedly already know all the best places, so this isn't aimed at them.

As well as plenty of birds, countryside walks in the summer bring you up close with a huge variety of wildflowers, butterflies, and other insects. Again a handy field guide is useful to explore your interest and help with identification.

I've arranged this site so I can add new routes to it on what I hope will be a fairly regular basis. At the moment there are no detaled route descriptions because I am still putting it all together. I suggest you enter your details in the boxes above-right and I'll let you know when I add a new route.