Planning a Walk Around a Reservoir

Why a reservoir makes a brilliant walk

Circular routes are surprisingly rare in the British countryside. Most walks are linear, or they loop back on themselves with a long, familiar retrace. A reservoir gives you a genuine circuit almost by default: a shoreline, a dam, a wooded bay, a dam again. There is always a view, usually a decent path underfoot, and a steady sense of progress as you tick off the landmarks.

But a reservoir is also a working landscape. Water is stored, treated and piped away; angling clubs lease banks; trees are felled and replanted. Understanding that shapes how you plan the day.

Check access before you set off

Not every reservoir is open to the public. Some are ringed by private land, and access is a patchwork of public footpaths, bridleways, permissive paths and no-go zones around treatment works, spillways and fishing platforms. Before you drive anywhere, look at a current map and check which bits you are actually allowed to use. Watch for:

• Public rights of way marked as footpath or bridleway
• Permissive paths that the landowner allows but can withdraw
• Seasonal closures for nesting birds, lambing or forestry work
• Car park opening hours, height barriers and charges

Parking matters as much as the route. A proper reservoir car park is ideal; a passing place on a single-track lane is not. If the pull-in is unmarked gravel with room for four cars, arrive early at weekends.

Read the path surface, not just the distance

A three-mile circuit on a smooth tarmac access road is a very different outing from three miles of tussocky grass and broken boardwalk. Both exist, often around the same reservoir. Ask what the route actually uses:

• Tarmac or compacted gravel — good for pushchairs, wheelchairs and children on scooters, though it can feel a bit engineered underfoot.
• Stone-dust or forest track — pleasant in dry weather, greasy in the wet.
• Grass and mud — fine in boots, hopeless for a buggy after rain.
• Boardwalk and steps — check for rotten planks, missing handrails and slippery algae.

Contours matter too. Many reservoirs sit in valleys, so the path hugs the water, but the return leg may climb sixty or eighty metres over a bank. That is a real pull for short legs and older dogs. With mixed abilities in the group, it is often wiser to walk the flat section as an out-and-back than to force the full loop.

Use the prevailing winds to your advantage

Reservoirs are exposed. There is no hedgerow, no shelter belt, no hillside to duck behind when you are out on the dam or the open shoreline. The UK's prevailing wind is south-westerly, so most circuits have one long, breezy, unsheltered stretch — usually the dam or the eastern shore.

Do that section first, while everyone is fresh, and finish with the sheltered, wooded side. On a cold day, walk into the wind on the way out and let it push you home. Wind chill over open water can knock several degrees off the felt temperature, so a thin windproof layer is worth more than an extra jumper.

Also check the previous day's rain. Reservoir catchments hold water, and paths that drain towards the shore can stay boggy for days after a downpour.

Families, dogs and mixed abilities

Reservoirs are often well set up for a half-day out, because the access tracks have to be maintained anyway. Expect benches, picnic tables and information boards, and sometimes toilets or a small café at the visitor hub. Check opening times — many facilities shut out of season.

For dogs: lead up near livestock, nesting birds and anglers; pick up after them; and take note of blue-green algae warnings in warm weather, which can be toxic to dogs that swim or drink. For children: no swimming or paddling, whatever the weather. Reservoir banks can be steep, slippery and shelve away quickly, and the water is far colder than it looks.

Buggy-friendly choices are usually the tarmac dam side and the first mile of the main access road. If you are walking with a wheelchair user, check recent route reports, as gates, steps and stiles are the usual blockers.

Pack for a working landscape

Treat it like any other countryside day out, with a couple of reservoir-specific extras.

• A paper map or downloaded offline map, so you can change the route mid-walk
• Waterproof jacket and trousers — weather changes quickly over open water
• Boots with grip, even on tarmac that may be slick with algae
• Water, snacks and a flask for colder months
• Lead, poo bags and a towel for wet fur
• Spare layer, hat and gloves in the rucksack
• A torch or head torch if you might finish near dusk

Tell someone where you are going and when you expect to be back; mobile signal can be patchy in steep-sided valleys. Leave no trace — take everything home, close gates behind you, and stay on the path where erosion is a problem. Done properly, a reservoir circuit is one of the most rewarding and genuinely accessible walks in the British countryside: flat enough for a good chat, wild enough to feel like an escape, and always with that shifting, changing water at its heart.