I’d read about it but never seen it: the celebrated ‘goose crossing’ manoeuvre at Bowness-on- Windermere.

With my wife off to do the monthly shop at Costco (Haydock on the edge of Merseyside) via a close friend’s house for a cuppa in Leyland, Lancashire, I needed to brave the constant heavy rain and take Tess the collie for a decent walk.

‘We’ opted for Bowness-on-Windermere. It’s only half an hour from where we live on the edge of Kendal and has a few excellent coffee shops for when Tess has done enough walking. Sadly, she can’t run much these days without the arthritis slowing her down painfully. Collies tend not to live much longer than ten years or so, and she’s approaching that.

The pitch and put golf course is open to responsible dog walkers and is one of her favourite walks. We potter around the edges and she explores all the new smells.

Arriving, we park at the far end of the golf course which requires a one-way circuit of the semi-circular lakeshore road. At this time of year the geese divide their days between the park – next to the golf course – and the narrow edge of Lake Windermere.

Their famous ‘crossing’ is at the narrowest point of the road.

They gather on the park, often in their hundreds, then the leader makes a lot of noise and they all – literally – line up in an orderly fashion and head for the lake … via the main road.

I stopped, of course. The lead goose turned its head to examine me through the rain … and nodded at me. I gazed in silent admiration as the whole flock followed in military precision. Thankfully, my phone was in the breast pocket of the raincoat I was wearing. The car was stationary and I managed to fumble it out halfway through the flock’s crossing, as you can see from the photo.

It was a cheery and uplifting moment.

©Stephen Tanham 2024

All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12

ProMax or created using NightCafe Studio Al.

Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers spiritual correspondence courses and a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.