Into the Valley

Yesterday's stops, starts, ups and downs definitely took their toll on the quads, so for Day Two I was looking for something a little flatter.

Trouble is, I live halfway up a hill (or is that halfway down?), so unless I bike or drive to another location, there'll be a lump in it somewhere.

Accepting my hill would need to be overcome, I consulted the Ordnance Survey to work out the gentlest way over it, and stumbled upon the nearby source of a stream, which flowed north to eventually join the Thames some twenty miles away. More importantly, I discovered that when a dual carriageway heading in the same direction was constructed in the 90's, the planners created an accessible riverside trail along the first half of its length, the "Blackwater Valley Path".

So this morning I ran up and over my hill, heading due north on straight roads for a few miles, to where I could swing right, and intercept the Blackwater Valley Path at a suitable location. I figured the very gentle descent would be a good warm up for the legs, and the gradual ascent of the return leg would be less noticeable on the twisty riverside trails.
 

GV on the Blackwater Valley Path

It turned out to be a pretty good run, and despite my tired legs, fairly fast and flowing. Providing I ignored the occasional litter blackspots and chainlinked industrial estates, it wasn't a bad place to be. In sections, it gave the impression of no-mans-land, pinned between the front lines of urban sprawl and super-road, but within this sliver, the wildlife seemed to thrive. It's refreshing to see more than one heron, and both types of native woodpecker on the same run.

A couple of quick stops to check the map (and some confusion when I forgot to restart my watch), and I managed to round up a testing  start to a satisfying twelve miles. Despite now very achey legs I'm already looking forward to another reasonable distance tomorrow, before it's back to work, and trying to squeeze in shorter runs (and shorter blogs) when I can.


Summary:
Today: 12:0 miles, 1:36 hrs, 1558 cals
January: 30.6 miles, 4:24 hrs, 4117 cals