Only recently, I became aware of another 'secret lake' in the hills. I only know of its existence as a local walking group gave notice of it as their destination for a walk a few weeks back and, based on their announced meeting point, I scoured Google Maps and found it.
We set off to find it but failed, although the expedition was enjoyable enough in itself, but the woodland was impenetrable. We can't have been far away, however, it seemed unlikely that we would succeed, if we maintained that strategy.
I resolved to go up in the week, approaching from the opposite direction, and follow the forest road as far as I could on the bike, then do the last few hundred yards on foot. I was able to get to end of the trail and could be fairly confident that I was in the right place to strike south for the lake. I locked my bike to a bit of fence by a locked access gate and struck out on the obvious path. Unfortunately, this became steadily less obvious and several partial retreats did not leave me finding the way through the primeval forest. Wednesday's apocalyptic weather would have obliterated any trace of the walk on the Sunday before, so I had no confirmation that this was 'the way'.
The paths deteriorated to 'deer-sized', then 'rabbit sized', so I had to retreat and try again.
It seemed unlikely that this sort of terrain was the way there...
Eventually, it became clear that I was in failure mode again and I went back to the bike to either 'think again' or just give up. At that point, I saw that there was a small piece of trodden ground behind my bike, and investigating that led me, after about ten metres, to find what did look like 'the path'.
A road big enough for a small tractor, that might have been in use when the derelict house by the lake had still been occupied - clearly little travelled by humans now, and maintained by the deer and rabbits.
I was confident now that the road was the right one and, after a few hundred yards, the house appeared.
Now that I do know where it is, it would even be possible to find it in the dark!
Google finds nothing about it, using the name the walking group use, and none on the locals here that I have asked about it are aware there is such a thing.