Sprung

Awaking from my winter hibernation I ventured out to find that spring was happening already. As I had not walked for a while I decided to keep to a local River MerseySale Water Park loop; if it proved to be too much I could hop on a tram half way round and return home.

It was not too arduous, being mostly level, and I managed the full nine and a bit miles.

Good to see the graffiti along the Floop is being kept up to date:

A lady interrupted my stride enquiring about a bird perched on the goal post.

“Shag?” I retorted. Which seemed to alarm her for some reason. We decided it was something akin to a cormorant – which it almost certainly was.

The heron, which is usually around the water park, was exploring the other side of the river.

The river banks are littered with the debris from the recent storms and flooding.

With a week of warm and sunny weather forecast. and the aged legs still functioning, I may venture further afield at some point.

Ashton canal walk

The route

The promise of a day without rain was enough to inspire a trip along the Ashton Canal and catching the tram back. Heading out from the Piccadilly end of Manchester it’s just shy of 7 miles to the tram stop at Ashton.

Speed and Elevation charts

Not sure just where I exceeded seven miles an hour on the gentle climb upwards. At the Ashton end the canal joins the Peak Forest canal – a section of which was part of the previous stroll. Perhaps I’ll venture down this section next time.

The Peak Forest canal joins the Ashton canal over the river Tame

Walking during lockdown

Did a couple of miles around the park this morning. This is what lockdown looks like.

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When I was working I would walk between six and eight miles, often 20000+ steps, a day but have only managed 10000+ steps once during the last couple of weeks. Shall try and increase the daily step count more frequently from now on.

At least there was a police escort today.

And the herons had ventured from their nest on the island – which or may not be a good thing.