As we sat in our cars waiting for other walkers to arrive, the drizzle turned to sleet and then to snow. Two walkers had near misses on their way to Smithills Hall, one of which left her car and ran down Smithills Dean Road to meet us just as we were leaving.

It didn’t last long and, soon the sun was shining. However we did have some more snow, hail and drizzle during the afternoon, but luckily the sun shone most of the time and more importantly, during our breaks.

 15 walkers and 1 dog left Smithills Hall a few minutes later than planned (due to the aforementioned snow problems), and 12 walkers and 1 dog finished! Is this a record?

Various reasons caused this fallout rate, but I hasten to add, nobody got left behind or got lost.

 During the course of the walk we passed 10 lodges, lakes and reservoirs, hence the name of the walk.

Just after Victoria Lake, the few at the front of the group were lucky enough to see a couple of deer running through the woods which brought the usual comments. A little later, some walkers spotted a couple of bank notes laying sodden in the undergrowth!

 Dave retired to the pub at Belmont. It was his first walk with the LDWA and hadn’t walked for 18 years, so if you’re reading this Dave, I hope your taxi didn’t take too long and hope the experience didn’t put you off.

 Thanks to everybody for supporting the walk and also to Phil and Ken Peaks for keeping Dave company. I hope you all enjoyed it.

 Ken.