Your walk today...

[wafter]

Nice idea - I've often thought about creating a similar thread as I sometimes go for walks when I'm not feeling up to a ride, but have never pulled my finger out (and feared I might have been burned as a heretic for endorsing an exercise activity not involving wheels)..

Thursday I had to take the car for some work in Kidlington; which is a bit of a mission for me since my scant few friends were all busy so I had to occupy myself somehow while it was being worked on or bite the bullet and get the painfully slow, hourly bus home and back again.

I'd originally planned to bus it into Oxford instead but it was hammering it down and I woke up knackered so resigned myself to getting the bus home again. As it happened both I and the weather perked up as I was walking to the bus stop so I continued straight past and (eventually) into Oxford instead. Around 6.5 miles along the tow path - crap between Kidlington and Yarnton as it's unmaintained and muddy; not fun with my "I'll wear them till they're unquestionably dead" shoes with mirror-polished, paper-thin soles. Past Yarnton and it got so much better as the path's been re-surfaced with nice wide, springy tarmac. This used to form part of my route home on the bike and would make an excellent way of commuting into the city for anyone living in Yarnton..

I saw plenty of wildlife in the beautiful early morning sun and had a bit of a nose at all the tatty workhorse bikes in the hedges that serve the occupants of the canal boats. Arriving in Jericho I passed St. Barnabus' church - a building I've always admired from the outside but never ventured into; it was invitingly empty so I stepped into the cool and quiet for a few minutes' peace and reflection before getting back out into the throng. I'm not at all religious but can appreciate some of the stuff that comes with it..

Finally getting to the city centre a couple of hours after setting off I made a beeline to the covered market for apples and questionable meat products for breakfast. I spent maybe another hour or so mincing around; went to the bank, a few shops, did a lap round Christchurch meadow and had a swift half in the Old Tom before getting the call from the garage to say the car was done.. so caught the bus back to Kiddy before driving home and collapsing in a heap.

No way of measuring the distance but I reckon it must have been ballpark 10 miles; which felt good especially in the context of the low-carb diet I'm trying to re-aquaint myself with currently. Have since done a total of around 45 miles on the bikes over the past two days as well and really appreciate the opportunity to get out after the brutally dark and oppressive winter...

 

[Mike_P]

3 1/2 mile walk this afternoon ostensibly to see how passable a bridleway was that route planners can have a habit of picking.
To get there I walked along a new shared surface on the north side of the A59 – seems it was built strictly to plan and not what common sense on the site would dictate.

I was hoping the route to the left was the bridleway but it transpired to be around the sharp bend of the A59 and there was no footway on this side. I saw a gap in approaching traffic and walked across the bridge beyond which the verge was just wide enough to walk on.
Then came a surprise as the public right of way sign was that of a public footpath not a bridleway so why are route planners picking it up?
Anyway it was a reasonably good compressed hardcore surface for some distance but then turned into two or three compressed soil tyre tracks with a nominally grass central strip. The final nail in the coffin of making a cycling use of it was the steep climb with some quantity of loose gravel on it.

I walked to top of the climb and to the right the track joined the A61 at the foot of a curvy hill - I decided against trying to cross the A61 and walked back down the hill to where another footpath of path width headed west. This was somewhat muddy in parts and passed along a narrow valley.

The path subsequently clmbed steeply, partly stepped, the streams emergence from underground hidden in the undergowth.
Passing between fields and other related land holdings I was carefully observed.

Realising whereabouts I was going to emerge on the B6161 I sought to look at the downloaded offline OS map on my phone only to find it now needs to login
Trudged along the B6161 on and off the verge as appropriate, not for the first time but at least it was not with a bike with a split chain.
Into the depths of suburbia a car was jacked up and the inside of an alloy wheel was being cleaned – I suppose the motoring equivalent of taking a cassette off to clean.

 

[numbnuts]

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Walked into the city centre with our lass yesterday for something to eat, 8 mile round trip. Longest walk I've done in yonks.

 

[ColinJ]

If all goes to plan, I should have one to report tomorrow...

Despite my friend and I starting to develop colds, we went ahead. Both of us felt better out in the sunshine (though I am a bit shivery and sniffly now, back at home).

This walk was inspired by @Vantage mentioning Bob's Tearoom last year. This is our second visit since then, and we will go back again. You will see why later!

Yes - we had sunshine for much of our walk. There was still a bit of a chill in the wind at an elevation of 440+ metres, but we had dressed for it so we were ok. It stayed dry all day, as promised by the weather forecasts.

We cheated - we didn't walk up to that elevation! We caught the Keighley bus in Hebden Bridge and that took us up to 365 metres. We got off the bus and did our one steep yomp from there up Naze End to the trig point at High Brown Knoll on Midgley Moor. Here is our route and the profile of the walk. You can see that most of it was pretty flat or downhill...

It was a little bit misty but there were still fine views...

Heptonstall, above Hebden Bridge

Rocks on the moor

We stopped for a snack at those rocks, just before the trig point

We crossed the moor, mostly on a dryish, well-defined bridleway. We did find a few boggy patches though, and those bogs soon found out that I don't own a decent pair of walking boots. Lovely! (I must buy some ASAP - any recommendations for well under £100? )

We were descending to Luddenden Dean, one of my favourite local valleys. It isn't yet looking its best, but give it another month or two and it will be glorious.

Luddenden Dean, early Spring

After one wrong turn, we soon found our way down off the moor to the tearoom. It was busy but we got ourselves one of the many outside tables.

Big coffees, big flapjack, big cake: £10

We rested a while... (Even though it was a relatively easy walk, I was finding that walking and cycling use leg muscles differently!)

After that, we strolled down Jerusalem Lane to Booth then by bridleway and footpath to Luddenden village...

... and by road down to Luddenden Foot on the A646 to catch a bus back (which we had to wait AGES for!).

If you like the sound of the walk and fancy doing it yourself I would recommend walking back over the moor to Hebden Bridge. A less strenuous option would be to get onto the Rochdale canal towpath at Luddenden Foot for a very easy walk back.

 

[Jameshow]

How about these for £30+ p+p

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/27574670...tixoXeJTeO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Also has brashers but I hear the quality isn't what it was?

 

[Mrs M]

Went walkies with our boy, Oscar 🥰
Saw some deer but he doesn’t bother them 👍🏼
Really growing up 😀

 

[ColinJ]

How about these for £30+ p+p

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/27574670...tixoXeJTeO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Also has brashers but I hear the quality isn't what it was?

Thanks - funnily enough, I hadn't considered used boots!

I can see some mixed reviews of that particular type. I'll look at some others and then check the reviews.

 

[ColinJ]

I just remembered that my nephew gave me a pair of his used safety boots in Devon on my last visit. I think that they would be pretty good for moderate walks and I don't think that I am ever likely to walk more than 15-20 km. I'll wear my spare pair of SPD cycling shoes down for my next visit, leave those there, and come back in the safety boots!

 

[Jameshow]

Thanks - funnily enough, I hadn't considered used boots!

I can see some mixed reviews of that particular type. I'll look at some others and then check the reviews.

I've got the shoe version and it's been brilliant.

Not a really heavy shoe but for walking the local moors I think they would be ideal.

 

[Jameshow]

I just remembered that my nephew gave me a pair of his used safety boots in Devon on my last visit. I think that they would be pretty good for moderate walks and I don't think that I am ever likely to walk more than 15-20 km. I'll wear my spare pair of SPD cycling shoes down for my next visit, leave those there, and come back in the safety boots!

Reminds me of when I cycled to my parents last summer but broke a spoke in final 10 miles so had to come back via train...

Had black mt3 touring shoes, running shorts as it was the heartwave and a Nike t shirt either I had done a long cycle ride ill prepared for normal wear or I had got out of HMP with the remains of lost property!!

 

[skudupnorth]

So after a few cheeky rides out, my other daughter wanted to experience the coffee and cake stop near the Bridgewater Canal.
She is not as enthusiastic about cycling as my youngest so we went for the walking option to Worsley. Using the Guided Busway path and the Roe Green Loop Line, we managed a nice 6 mile walk to The Horse Box next to the Bridgewater canal.
One thing that shocked me is the aches I had from the different muscles I use for walking which are obviously not used whilst I cycling. Maybe @potsy is on to something mixing both activities 🤔

Two youngest walking through Worsley woods

Team walking Waterworth

It’s the law !

The Horse Box

Stunning Worsley

Homeward bound along the canal

 

[sevenfourate]

So after a few cheeky rides out, my other daughter wanted to experience the coffee and cake stop near the Bridgewater Canal.
She is not as enthusiastic about cycling as my youngest so we went for the walking option to Worsley. Using the Guided Busway path and the Roe Green Loop Line, we managed a nice 6 mile walk to The Horse Box next to the Bridgewater canal.
One thing that shocked me is the aches I had from the different muscles I use for walking which are obviously not used whilst I cycling. Maybe @potsy is on to something mixing both activities 🤔

View attachment 685020
Two youngest walking through Worsley woods
View attachment 685021
Team walking Waterworth
View attachment 685022
It’s the law !
View attachment 685023
The Horse Box
View attachment 685024
Stunning Worsley
View attachment 685025
Homeward bound along the canal

"Interesting" on different muscles for Cycling and walking. I'm not surprised.

In my younger days i managed to do some reasonably serious issues to a (Thigh from memory ?) muscle. And couldn't really walk.

Pretty soon after i had a 100 mile cycle race coming up - and had a quick go on the bike at home and felt 'ok'.

So my Father drove me to the event. I got lifted onto my bike on the start line - and then completed the 100 miles with pretty much no issues at all. Took a while to heal up - but the crossover from walking / standing to cycling seemed quite clear and on face value used some different muscle groups indeed......

 

[wafter]

"Interesting" on different muscles for Cycling and walking. I'm not surprised.

In my younger days i managed to do some reasonably serious issues to a (Thigh from memory ?) muscle. And couldn't really walk.

Pretty soon after i had a 100 mile cycle race coming up - and had a quick go on the bike at home and felt 'ok'.

So my Father drove me to the event. I got lifted onto my bike on the start line - and then completed the 100 miles with pretty much no issues at all. Took a while to heal up - but the crossover from walking / standing to cycling seemed quite clear and on face value used some different muscle groups indeed......

Walking and running (spits on the floor) are a good complement to cycling for this reason, plus the fact that they're load-bearing so good for retaining bone density - something that lots of cycling can apparently deplete..

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Walking and running (spits on the floor) are a good complement to cycling for this reason, plus the fact that they're load-bearing so good for retaining bone density - something that lots of cycling can apparently deplete..

Re last sentence - I didn't know that.

I much prefer walking to cycling tbh - especially mountain hiking & scrambling. 6 -10 hours hard graft in The Fells gives a great workout; especially for the older chap.