Forays on our UK trip

The primary purposes of this trip were to meet up with our relatives and (having so done) to spend a few days on our own to mark our 49th wedding anniversary. But in between all those relatives and our anniversary I got to do some exploring:

(1) to revisit the Grand Western Canal Country Park tow-path

J kindly loaned me her bike and so I set out for Tiverton where the canal ends (or begins). Counter-intuitively there is a steep incline up to the canal basin here. But once beside the canal the route is of course level (there are no locks) for the 11 miles to the Waytown Tunnel. You can (but I did not on this occasion) re-join the canal after this short tunnel for the last 1/4 mile. Thereafter what is left of the canal degenerates into at best a narrow footpath.

(2) to revisit my favourite footpath that descends to Broadhembury

Unashamedly more walking than jogging, from our airbnb in Kerswell up to North Hill and thence along the Blackdown Hills escarpment beside the gliding airfield before descending to Broadhembury.

(3) to revisit the Ruislip Lido

my track

Ruislip Lido is an artificial lake near Northwood Hills where my nephew-in-law lives. It boasts a 12" gauge railway that runs around a good 75% of the perimeter. It was not running during my visit. 

(4) around St Mary's Island

St Mary's Island, Chatham

When I first heard about this place I knew I had to circumnavigate it: what else of such importance is there to do on an island?  Apart from, in this case, visiting my sister of course.

(5) Lugg Meadow hike

Hereford has many secrets of which Lugg Meadow is one. It is one of the most important surviving Lammas Meadows in the UK, a Lammas meadow being a common meadow opened for communal grazing on Lammas Day, the 1st August. I knew I had to at least visit this place, even if I only explored a small part of it. Much of it was flooded anyway as you can see from my photos.

Lugg Meadow: I entered at the bottom and exited half way up on the left

my track 12.4km

(6) Railways and bridges in Hereford

Whilst studying the map I discovered the Great Western Way which is now a pedestrian footpath and cycleway, built over the culminating section of the Newport, Abergavenny & Hereford Railway Line.  So of course I had to check it out, starting at the north (Sainsbury's) end, over the Hunderton railway bridge, and jogging the whole length of the way, down to and past what was Redhill junction.

When it was still a railway, in1966

Barton station 1966 - now the location of Sainsbury's

my track 15.1km

After which I explored the footpaths and bridges along the river Wye, including the new Canary bridge, returning via the cathedral.

Devon pics

London pics

Chatham pics

Hereford pics

X marks the spot

I left Willand just before 0700 with newly acquired LED headlamp installed to ward off vehicles, it being dark at that hour. The weather was thankfully warm and dry just as forecasted the previous evening.

My track: 14.3 miles average 5.22 mph

The reason for the lower than average average speed was the ascent out of the Exe valley which was mostly at walking pace on account of the state of the path, the gradient and my limited zeal.

First sight of Tiverton

Grand Western Canal basin with ducks

Although dawn started to happen soon after I left, it was still fairly dark when I reached Tiverton, witness the above pictures. For those interested the canal terminates in Tiverton in the basin shown. It is still navigable along this part of its reach and there are occasional house boats moored.

Detail: X marks the river Exe

The X marks the chosen goal - I have no photographic evidence of this river as this would have required clambering down between trees and it was enough just to get there. So you will just have to take my word for it. That - I DID RUN FROM WILLAND TO THE RIVER EXE AND BACK! All by myself.

Here I left the Exe Valley Way

The Exe Valley Way follows an existing road southwards from Tiverton to this point where I turned off it: the river itself is the other side of the fields in this picture. My chosen route followed a muddy bridleway ascending steeply across farmland.

The ascent was stony and not kind to bare feet

Looking back over the Exe valley

Looking forward to the dawn

This communications mast was at the highest point in my run (marked 236m on the map) making it worthy of a picture. But I could not stop to investigate - I was already running late and had to get back and be washed and breakfasted before the gang arrived.

Mast at summit near Gogwell farm

The reason for the run was because I had a quest. The reason it had to be early morning was in the knowledge that the the rest of the day would be taken with a Cox family reunion. Coffee and cake at Knightshayes, lunch at home, afternoon chit-chat in the Grandma's lounge, all topped off by steak and kidney pie à la Alison followed by ice-cream and chocolate sauce (also à la Alison).

Family reunion at Knightshayes coffee shop

Ruby walk

There is such a social stigma attached to wearing shoes that, frankly, I have given up the battle and now habitually don them in many public places for example when shopping.  And so, the day after my 15 mile run, I found myself obliged to wear shoes and somehow pulled a muscle - when used to going barefoot can you believe that shoes can sometimes cause injury?  I had an odd half hour to myself whilst Ali was doing her habitual shopping in Tiverton so I set out to (briefly) explore an inviting looking grassy hillside and the Grand Western canal which terminates here. This exercise to double as a pulled-muscle test. By the end of the day my foot was better so did not stop the following day's run to be described in my next post.

The grassy hill in question is above the 'O' of "Tiverton"

Tiverton from the grassy hill

The Grand Western canal (visible on the right hand side of my map) originally ran from Taunton to Tiverton but today only an 11 mile section starting (or ending) in Tiverton remains open. The Tiverton canal basin has become somewhat commercialised with a floating coffee shop and car park charges. Neither interested me as a barefoot walker. What did interest me was that the canal here ends on the side of a reasonably steep hill, with attendant substantial buttressing on the lower side. One wonders what exactly had to be transported from Taunton to Tiverton and what they did with it once offloaded half way up this hillside.

The canal basin

Floating coffee shop

And so I duly returned to the Tesco carpark at the appointed 12:30.

Tiverton main drag