A very slippy Ecclesall Woods
I could have been forgiven in thinking that my embarassment was over after last week’s wanderings in the snowy wastelands of South Yorkshire. I should know better. “Mrs. Fate” likes to play.
Today’s destination was Ecclesall Woods in the South of Sheffield. Leaving the north side of town there was little of the snow remaining. Arriving at the parking areas outside Ecclesall Woods did leave me with a firm belief that I’d arrived somewhere very far away indeed. The paths were covered in ice. All of a sudden I was hankering for crunchy snow.
For all I know, Ecclesall Woods may be a thoroughly beautiful place. On the few occasions I raised my eyes above a spot more than one metre in front of me it looked absolutely heavenly. Well, that is if heaven has its walkways covered with ice that someone thought may not be slippy enough so they added liberal quantities of washing up liquid to the top just to increase the degree of difficulty. I’ve never been so scared when I have been walking. It was like watching life in slow motion watching me get from one place to the next. Baby steps followed by a slide followed by an expletive.
Walkers were similarly cautious as they wandered but the dogs were as stupid as nature intended. The sight of large dogs skating around were more reminiscent of cartoons of animals on ice. Imagine Bambi’s early steps on the ice. For a few moments, one of the dogs was running on the spot as it could deliver no traction. Fortunately it managed to find some grip and off it went only to realise all too suddenly that stopping might be a problem. Splat, into the trees. Of course, because I’d stopped to watch this amusing distraction, I was now faced with a similar problem of getting going without having anything to push against. My feet were just not going to cut it at all. Having Andrea nudge me into motion was not my proudest moment.
People were full of sound advice as to how cautious we should be. Most conversations finished with the now all too familiar phrase “you should have bought some of these” as they lifted their feet to show their crampons or other anti-slip devices. I have now ordered such devices for my shoes. This fact should leave the rest of South Yorkshire happy in the knowledge that we will have no frozen paths anywhere in the forseeable future as “Mrs. Fate” will be striving hard to make sure I never have the chance to try out my newly acquired equipment. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that she is a major shareholder in Amazon.
We have resolved to come back when the thaw enjoyed by the rest of Sheffield has spread to the more rarefied region of Ecclesall Woods. It did look very pretty indeed.
