Pond ice thick enough to walk on!

[Queen bee]

We have a pond in our garden, and in the recent cold spells, it has completely frozen over. Normally, it's not much of a big deal, but last week I discovered that it was thick enough for our border collie cross to sit on without any trouble. I had my younger cousins with me at the time, and (being a very irresponsible big cousin) I dared them to try and walk on it. Well, they didn't make a child-shaped hole in the ice, so a few days later, I tried. Being about twice their size, it creaked a bit, but held. It's very thick... several inches, I'd say, and we've floated an (empty) ice cream tub to help the wildlife. (You can't leave balls lying around here with an exciteable dog about!) The resulting hole became an ice hockey goal, with my cousins trying to whack chunks ice into it with a cricket bat.
So has this happened anywhere else? I'm in Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor... not exactly Antarctica!

[tameblackbirds]

can I borrow your young cousin and I'll let you know

[Gill Catton]

What would you have done if your cousins had fallen through the ice? Is it a very shallow pond?
Mum and dad's pool had thick ice across the top of it but only a couple of inches at the most.

[shei111]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

What would you have done if your cousins had fallen through the ice? Is it a very shallow pond?
Mum and dad's pool had thick ice across the top of it but only a couple of inches at the most.

Weve had warnings on the local TV news telling people not to do it, its no fun when children drown in such conditions . sheila

[Queen bee]

It's about 80cm deep, and I held their hands while we tested it with one foot.
We gave the birds some thawed water in their bath (they usually prefer the pond but it's impossible to break -- the cricket bat broke on it XD) and there was a huge queue of sparrows waiting to take a dip.

[Stewy]

There's a couple of idiots in the paper today with a toddler walking on a frozen pond!

[Hedge Witch]

Well to be honest QB, I think we've all done this sort of thing as kids.

(Never would've told the grown-ups though. )

But from you last post, you sound like you were acting fairly responsibly.

[Stewy]

Originally Posted by Hedge Witch

Well to be honest QB, I think we've all done this sort of thing as kids.

Very true HW, me and my mates used to take our bikes out onto one of the local lakes when it was frozen, it's 12ft deep in places!!

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by Queen bee

So has this happened anywhere else? I'm in Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor... not exactly Antarctica!

The River Ribble in Settle (Yorkshire Dales) was frozen across today - that's the first time I've seen that here for a long long time. Ponds and lakes up here freeze solid fairly regularly but moving water much less so.

[Stewy]

Poole harbour was frozen over the other day as was Padstow.