Colemere lake walk

Hello again people and pooches. Joe the Cocker here after a hike around Colemere. The lake is thirty minutes’ drive from home and one of our regular evening walks in the summer. It’s a quiet lakeside walk close to the more popular Ellesmere. There are a number of meres in this part of Shropshire and close to the Welsh border. Basically, a mere is a body of water that measures less in depth than width. It’s put simply a shallow lake with no obvious inflow or outflow except for minor streams.

Colemere was formed by a large ice chunk left behind from the last ice-age. The weight of the chunk created a kettlehole as it melted, leaving a hole in the ground that filled with melt water and later with rainwater.

We parked in the free car park area outside of the small village of Colemere. Quite often, this car park is completely deserted, but on this occasion, there was a paw full of cars. The weather was gloriously sunny and warm, so my human was wearing a t-shirt and shorts while I was naked except for my collar!

There is a small play area for sprogs to wear themselves out. We headed towards the sturdy wooden gate that leads to the circular path around the mere. On this occasion, we chose to walk around the lake in an anticlockwise direction.

The first view of the lake appears as you pass through the gate onto a gravel footpath. I wanted to go for a swim, but my human told me all about the blue-green algae in the lake that would make me ill. I had to settle for a mooch and a sniff around the grass at the side of the path.

Initially, the walk continued along the gravel path with open views across the lake.

The next section was along a boardwalk. I was tempted to jump off it on a couple of occasions, but my human shouted for me to stay on the walkway. Ok, so the ground is a bit soggy. Ok, so the ground is very boggy in this wetland area, and my human didn’t want me to get caked in mud like I usually do.

Once we were through the wetland area, we entered Yell Wood, an ancient stretch of woodland. The path soon turns westward between the lakeshore and the Shropshir Union Canal. We were back on terra firma with a more natural compacted earth path under my paws and his size 10’s.

The canal was up a steep embankment at the side of the path. I did a quick recce to the top of the slope. My human declined the temptation to follow me. Wimp!

Then it was ‘dog on a log’ time. Why does he insist on making me do daft things? Anyway, it makes him smile. At my expence, though.

The views of the lake were becoming fewer and far between. The oaks, birch, and beeches, along with the ferns, were blocking most of the views. We could hear and see the ducks, geese, and see the swans on the lake while we could hear the birdlife in the trees. One particularly distinct sound was produced by a woodpecker, drilling intermittedly but unseen nearby.

The lake is popular with carp fishermen and women. Every so often, we could see an anglers peg in the undergrowth on the banks of the lake. This part of the walk, known as Black Coppice, is darker and more dense than the previous woodland.

We had chosen a quiet afternoon to visit, so I was free to mooch! I could smell where those ‘tree-rats’ had been, but I couldn’t find any. I knew that there had been plenty of critters in the vicinity, but they were all hiding from me. My human was keeping his beady eyes on me because he knows how distracted I can get when I find a scent in the bushes.

‘Here we go again!’ He wasn’t satisfied with the dog on a log pic he had to create a ‘lump on a stump’ follow up. I actually found it quite insulting. Me, a lump? It strikes me that his mirror must be broken. It is a case of ‘pot – kettle!’

We plodded on as the footpath turned south-east to follow the banks of the mere. After we had skirted Baysil Wood, we passed Colemere Caravan Park. It looked like a lovely site with glamping available in the yurts.

The site has direct access onto the lakeside footpath and is dog friendly.

Shortly, we came across Colemere Sailing Club situated on the grassy banks of the lake.

There are no boats to hire from the private sailing club, and only boats owned by club members can sail on the lake. Fishing is only allowed by private members of the angling association.

The views across the lake are uninterrupted at this point.

We left the footpath at the car park where we had parked. Across the road is the small family run Colemere Vineyard. My human couldn’t resist having a quick nosey around with him being a grape juice lover.

The vineyard has approximately 2500 vines and produces a variety of English wine.

The first vines were planted in 2014 by hand, and the business has grown in size and reputation. A bronze medal was awarded to the vineyard in 2023 for one of their wines.

Finally, here’s a photo of me from earlier in the walk. I included this one because I had to stand in that position for an age while my human kept nagging me to stand still. As you can see from my eyes, I had had enough!

Till next time!