Date of your route : Jan 24, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Very busy route : No
I was really very disappointed with this walk. This is the third time I’ve done this route: the first time left me with fond memories, the second left a bitter taste at the end as I made my way back to the car park (see below), and this one – which is unfortunately the last, such is my disappointment. I did the walk with my little dog (harness, lead, good recall and sociable).
The walk starts off well with the lake, the path through a small wood and quite a few fields. Be careful after rain – there’s a risk of slipping on the descent before point 3.
From point 4 onwards, it’s a disaster! What used to be fields and countryside has become a vast area under construction. The landscape there has been completely ruined. You walk alongside the barriers separating you from the building site all the way to the dog club, which is no longer of any interest.
The path alongside the greenhouse has been rutted by tractors digging (or re-digging) trenches on the greenhouse side, and there’s clearly work going on near the clearing too. This section is still passable, but I thought I’d seen the worst of it when, from point 5 onwards, the entire landscape on the left-hand side is destroyed by building work (yet again), stretching almost all the way to the little bridge. From there, the scenery hasn’t changed (for now?). From point 6, it’s a tarmac road, as indicated in the details, with very little traffic (but do watch out for the speed of any cars that do come along).
Finally, it was time to head back to the car park, where I had the fright of my life: as I walked past the riding centre (which had no proper fencing) with my dog on a lead, the centre’s enormous dog came running towards us, baring its teeth and growling. There were people at the riding centre, but nobody reacted or came to retrieve their dog, which wasn’t responding to their calls. The dog tried to jump on me to attack my dog, whom I’d grabbed and held in my arms. But still nobody came, despite my screams. The dog eventually obeyed and walked away.
Another person who works at the riding centre, who was looking after the horses by the lake, came over to ask if everything was all right. This kind person explained to me that this dog attacks small dogs but is apparently friendly towards large ones…
The last time the same thing happened to me, someone did come over, quickly called the dog back and told us it wasn’t ‘mean’ despite its attempt to bite my dog… I wanted to make peace with this place, but that’s no longer possible.
So, a word of warning to dog-friendly visitors: this dog attacks our little furballs.
I strongly advise against this walk, unless you need to be reminded of the ecological disasters we continue to bring about.
Machine-translated