Saturday 13 November 2021 - The Vale of Ffestiniog

With Richard disabled due to a knee injury caused by excessive exercise, he was available to take Jenny, Sue and me to Blaenau Ffestiniog for a walk back to Porthmadog through the Vale of Ffestiniog. 

We started from the Queen's Hotel soon after 10am, after shopping for drinks to substitute for a forgotten flask of tea.

Good paths led to Tanygrisiau Reservoir, where we enjoyed coffees and a chat with cyclists at the excellent Lakeside Café, before heading onwards and skipping across a stream, where we disturbed a large brown trout in the shallow water.
 

Hereabouts, a causeway trundles off into the reservoir. Before the reservoir, this was the course of the railway, which now takes a different route.

Lunch was taken by Llyn Mair (Mary's Lake), an artificial lake built by Mary's father, owner of the estate and nearby quarries, to celebrate his daughter's 21st birthday. 

A little further on, we passed a small reservoir, Llyn Trefor.

Meanwhile, on a slightly drizzly day, we spotted a good rainbow.

Towards the end of the walk we skirted Portmeirion, with good views to Porthmadog and Moel-y-Gest. 

By the time we got back to the harbour, after a good stroll along the cob, the sun had set and night was falling.

Richard had not (mostly) been idle, and a fine meal was soon produced.

The map is shown below. We were walking for over six and a half hours, and covered an undulating 23 kilometres. A lovely route that we had been aspiring to for some time.

Click on the image for more detail

Friday 12 November 2021 - Return to South Snowdon Wharf

We are back in Porthmadog for a few days. Above, the familiar view from our deck. Below, the view across Llyn Bach to Moel-y-Gest, topped by cloud this afternoon, as we embarked on our regular 5km stroll. 

Despite occasional drizzle, a low sun appeared through the trees. 

The woodland near Tremadog still retains some autumn colour, though by now the sun had long gone.

Tales from the Trans Pennine Trail

Why don't I like cycling on roads? This picture provides one of the reasons. Not everyone cares where they park, and many drivers have little time, or space, for cyclists. But even cycle routes like the Trans Pennine Trail find an occasional need to utilise tarmac, in this case to get past Altrincham. Luckily the van that was parked here earlier had gone before the arrival of the car.

The ditch that borders Dairyhouse Lane, shown in the picture below, taken from a few metres on from the previous picture, has recently been dredged. Perhaps the driver who parked his or her car in it was on a mission to block the drains? Or is there a bicycle trapped somewhere in the foliage?

This was another cloudy day with mizzle in the air. The autumn colours would be great in sunshine, but I fear the leaves will have dropped by the time we get any of that particular commodity.

Tuesday 9 November 2021 - A 'Virtual' 10K

Sue took part in the Knutsford 10km race on 17 October (report here) but I had to miss out due to Plantar Fasciitis. Having paid the fee, and being too late for a refund, I switched to doing a 'virtual' 10km within a month of the race. My foot isn't fully repaired yet, but I was able to walk/slow jog a route in the Bollin Valley, to enable me to submit a time - 1:28:34 (runners will appreciate that I wasn't really 'running') - and thereby complete the race. Hopefully the Garmin download and the picture at the foot of this posting will provide the necessary evidence.

It's a pleasant route, and reporting the following morning, I can confirm that the injured foot seems to have coped with it, albeit it's still not properly better; I won't be attempting to run properly for a while yet. The Garmin 'download' is here.

Monday 8 November 2021 - A Pennington Flash Circuit

A Monday morning bike ride with Paul and Jeanette. This was a repeat of the 70km route I cycled with Cary on 19 July this year. Other visits are described thus (click on the text):  

22 October 2018,  

29 October 2018, 

1 July 2019.

Just a few photos today - Paul is pictured above at Water's Meet, after only about half an hour.

The sun arrived for the next two pictures, taken from the same spot, on the Bridgewater Canal towpath between Worsley and Leigh.

Finally, the disused Sankey Canal at 'Mucky Mountains Nature Reserve'.

Coffee breaks at Pennington Flash and in a cafe in Stockton Heath broke the journey. The 70km ride took us a shade over 5 hours, including an hour's worth of breaks.

There were a few minor diversions due to path widening and maintenance, and we noted lots of earth piled up by way of new landscaping near the site of a new fishing lake in the Sankey valley - the earth excavated to create the lake hasn't been taken away, it has just been plonked nearby and shouldn't look too bad once it's grassed over.

Thanks for your company, P&J, I enjoyed that ride.

PS Moorhens seem to have had a good year in the Sankey valley, the place seemed almost overrun with them!

Saturday 6 November 2021 - Wythenshawe parkrun number 447

 
Jacob joined us for his fifth 5km parkrun. Wythenshawe was the venue. Sue was his 'responsible adult'.

We assembled in the field, with Andy giving the briefing, supported by Richard - number one volunteer today.

Social distancing is still evident.

Here are Jacob and Sue, just ready to set off. The dog in the background is Rufus, who suffers from barking fits of excitement if he waits with the masses (229 today), so Paul has to keep him calm well away from the other starters.

 

I started at the back, as did. Paul and Rufus, who set about overtaking 172 of the other participants.  I passed 9.

I'm still dealing with Plantar Fasciitis, so my plan was to walk around the course. I was joined by Bryn, happily in action again after collapsing and hurting himself a few weeks ago. We jogged a bit and finished in about 40 minutes, some 7 minutes behind Jacob and Sue. We paused as we passed Jenny and Ruby, who were returning to base after marshalling at the Far Bridge.

Dogs aren't allowed in the tearoom, so we were thrown out, but not before Ruby had chewed through her lead whilst being looked after by Sue and Jacob. Oops! Thankfully she didn't drink Sue's coffee or eat Jacob's ice cream!

The full results are here.