Out & About: Carsington Water (North End)

After a week off with illness it was back to normal with a short visit up the road to Carsington Water.
I was up a bit earlier when i saw it was a beautiful clear sky. Our bedroom window faces east and when i looked out into the breaking dawn sky i could see 3 planets in a row. Lowest of the 3 was Mercury, then Venus and lastly Saturn. Mercury is so close to the Sun the pre dawn sky was starting to get light and Mercury was just visible.

3 planets visible from my garden.

With the sun not rising until almost 8:00am we didn't leave until 7:30. We parked in the Sheepwash car park at the northern end of the reservoir. The Moon was still out and looked very nice just hanging above a bank of clouds.

Carsington Water is a reservoir operated by Severn Trent Water in Derbyshire, England. The reservoir takes water from the River Derwent at Ambergate during winter months, pumping up to the reservoir by 10.5-kilometre (6.5 mi) long tunnels and aqueduct. Water is released back into the river during summer months for water abstraction and treatment further downstream. It is England's ninth largest reservoir with a capacity of 35,412 megalitres.

Planning for the reservoir started in the 1960s with actual construction starting in 1979, 2 farms were demolished before the work could start. In 1984 there was a partial collapse of the dam prior to its filling. The dam was subsequently completely removed before construction of a new dam commenced in 1989. The finished reservoir was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992.

The reservoir is a major centre for leisure activities including walking, cycling, fly fishing, birdwatching,sailing, canoeing, and windsurfing. The land surrounding the reservoir, in particular the facilities around the visitor centre, has played host to events including a music festival, the Festival of the Peak.