Hard Day

Well, I've just got back from a stroll down the Stratford Canal. I've checked the Nijmegen website to discover that at the end of registration for previous walkers 28,000 have registered, leaving 17,000 spaces for newcomers like me. Registration opens at 1 minute past midnight, Sunday/Monday and I shall be there!

Today's walk was in fact 17 miles from home down to Lapworth in Warwickshire along the canal. I made my way from home to the canal via the River Cole and Priory Fields Nature Reserve. Priory Fields is a Warwickshire Wildlife Trust reserve, the only one I know of that's not in Warwickshire! Walking through it I saw the strange sight of 6 Mistle Thrushes chasing each other around kicking up a right racket, I guess they were starting to establish primacy in breeding territories. I made my way to the canal and just before it I turned left. You have to turn left just before the canal because if you leave it even a fraction too late you get very wet.

The canal towpath was a good place to walk except that, when you get to the bridges numbered in the late teens and early twenties it is very muddy indeed. I wished that I had put on my walking boots as I know they are waterproof, instead I found out that my other boots are also waterproof, good job too. The canal takes you through Solihull Lodge, round that god-awful estate Chadwick End, past Earlswood, then Hockley Heath and onto Lapworth. I turned round at Lapworth lock No.6, where I thought I would sit on the lock gate, drink my drink and eat my snack. No, the lock gates were shrouded in plastic fencing as the canal was drained and I was surprised by how shallow the canal system is. So, I just turned round and ate/drank on the hoof. Even so the walk took me 5 hours, so my speed had dropped below 4mph. Some of this was due to having to negotiate my way round the mud, sometimes I had to walk through it and risk falling in, but even so the distance has begun to tell on me and I know I've walked 17 miles. Still I shall definitely do it again. When I reach the 20 mile barrier I shall take the train to Stratford and walk back which will be about 22 miles plus the distance from the station to the canal.

Isabel was very keen to examine my pedometer when I got back (she bought it for me). Something she frequently does. I thought it may be because she was seriously impressed that I had taken just under 32,000 steps, but then the penny dropped. I disappear for a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday and return happy but slightly red-faced. I'm sure she's checking that I have not got up to any other slightly illicit activities. On that note I'll quit while I'm ahead.

Registration looms

I can register on Monday and, as of today 27,259 people have already registered. The numbers signing up have obviously slowed quite considerably. So, I should easily be able to register, it just depends upon whether they exceed 45,000 as to whether I stay in after the dreaded ballot. Fingers are well and truly crossed.

This weekend's walk will take place on Saturday and, just to go somewhere different, I have decided to walk down the Stratford Canal. I have found a couple of useful websites on this canal, and so I shall walk to Lapworth, lock 6 to be exact. This will be a round trip of between 16-17 miles. If the weather holds out it should be quite pleasant.