Carsington Water - almost seaside

I live just about as far away from the sea as you can get, so, although it's just about feasible, a day trip involves an early morning and long car journey. So during hot weather I make do with Carsington Reservoir.

At the moment with water levels low, it looks quite like sea lazily lapping a stony beach. There's no paddling allowed, but there are yachts and canoes so it's possible to pretend you're near a marina or harbour.

I've never walked the whole way round - it's about 8 miles so doable perhaps even for me - and this day we just walked out to Stones Island (not an island but it does have modern 'standing stones' erected at the time the reservoir was built), and then, after lunch, along the top of the dam.

It's usually cold and blustery along the dam, but not this time - just a little breeze at least to take away some of the heat.

Along our way, we came across these carvings - a wizard, dragon, elf and tiny fairy houses. Perhaps they were all part of Hob's trail, but we never found anything to tell us.

A good sort of day though, and almost like being by the sea :)