A bonus blog - a tranquil stroll along the canal for training
- jeddison54
- Dec 10, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 15, 2022
As this is a blog series about My AS journey and walking, I thought I would document the training walks I do.
The plan? To walk the Skipton to Leeds canal path of 26 miles on 30th November.
As always, I love to plan, for work, for home, for social events, for eating, for occasions, for shopping, basically for everything.
Some would say I lack spontaneity and they would be right!
I find comfort in having a plan, being structured, and ordered; although I have come to realise that they seldom pan out that way. Ambiguity is not my friend.
This day was no different day 2 after finishing my latest work contract and a chance to decompress.
I was going to walk from home to the train station jump on a train to Skipton and walk back to Leeds. This would have got me the 50km distance that the Lake District hike 2022 covers.
Due to the new COVID variant and having avoided the virus so far, I wasn’t going to risk public transport for first time in 20 months.
So, I changed plan and dropped my daughter at nursery, walked to city centre onto the start of the Leeds Liverpool canal path and set off to see how far I would get.
The changing landscape of Leeds, cranes, skyscrapers, and noise!
As I wandered out from the city centre, and on the return, I noticed how much the canal side had changed. Even since early 2020 before I moved to WFH, when the canal was a regular lunchtime stroll.
Everywhere I turned there were building sites, with all the noise of construction spilling over the peace of the slowly flowing waters.
More and more skyscrapers have started popping up on the horizon. I approached the back of Leeds train station on my return and saw the building that was home to my first flat. At the time in 2008 one of the highest building on that part of the skyline. Now it is dwarfed all around by new structures. This reflected the new world of riverside living!
The canal, with a calm tranquillity of the waters, the nod to an industrial past and evoking of childhood memories.
As I got out of the city centre the atmosphere, I craved from this walk materialised. The stillness, the quiet and the peaceful slow flow of the water interrupted only occasionally by a swan or goose floating by, and the jolly hello of passing walkers.
The trip was full of sights that evoked memories from the past, while serving a reminder that the industrial heritage of Leeds lives on but blended with the modern.
The canal path remains home to an array of the old mills and factories, some repurposed and some still holding onto their past. Many a primary school trip had taken place at one such mill in Armley home to a museum, that appeared just as it had 25 plus years ago to this unenthusiastic pupil.
A large brewery mill at Kirkstall has long been home to students as a hall of residence. A venue I frequented a lot in the mid-2000s for the cheesy pop Friday night sessions.
Many of the locks reminded me of the stories of school friends who used to frequently swim in them. A frightening thought when looking at the large contraptions and mechanisms working the locks or the cleanliness of the water. I suppose though it was a different time back then, even if that pursuit never interested me.
Another big landmark of the path is the vast old site of Kirkstall Forge. This was one place my Dad had worked as an engineer, so it made me think of him in many ways. The site has little remaining to give away what working there would have been like. The glimpses through the trees opening up the modern with a monstrous train station. Not yet sure what the station is connecting to!
The favourite part of the walk though was when I got further afield, and the rolling hills took over. This was what I envisaged for the walk and just taking in the calmness allowed all stresses to fade away. At about 22 miles I remember thinking I was starting to ache a bit, but the surroundings kept spurring me on and I quickly found myself back in Leeds.
My tips for walking with AS
Know your limitations, including identifying triggers and when you are reaching them!
Gradually build up your distance at your pace which will increase your limitations / ability.
Set yourself goals or targets, but it’s ok if you don’t always get there.
Find something to listen to, for me it’s cricket podcasts or crime audiobooks, but whatever you like will help.
On big walks, try not to stop, it’s hard to get going again.
I find a hot bath as soon as you end helps manage aches and stiffness.
Above all you need to enjoy it, if you do not then there is probably a better exercise for you.
NASS has some useful info on walking to help manage AS: managing my AS
It is not just AS that walking can help, as Versus Arthritis show in their tips on walking and arthritis: top tops for walking
Click here to give to my next walking challenge, a 50km hike around the Lake District to raise funds for NASS.
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