Walking to observe and notice

Off the beaten path

Not down the usual walking route did I ply but rather down the Ashton Canal towpath from Paradise Wharf to Islington Wharf between which mechanical cranes and hoists of history have become monuments of the industries that once thrived here. Now, we have bijoux apartments and waterfront properties, a kind of exclusivity not nearly as exciting as it seems apart from when the canal forms an aqueduct over Store Street.

The further straight on this towpath leads to isolation, but for a sunny day, many are walking in groups to and fro, a kind of busy that is usually reserved for football match days but let us not be distracted from our surroundings and the oncoming traffic of senseless cyclists. The numerous canal locks holding back water as overflows give a sense of life.

Nature in many guises

Life in ducks, geese, and birds, they all are quacking, honking, or singing, in unison, separately or a disordered cacophony, not in need of the marshalling of a choirmaster. The music of nature is more settling than the blaring of headphones in covering your ears that you are totally unaware of what or where you are. If only they could just pocket their mobile phones for a moment and see something else.

One man and his dog, that dog a beast instead giving the person a status of terror for he could earn fear masquerading as respect no other way, then another dog, fluffy and friendly being called away from a couple sitting for a quiet talk. Just before you saw the fouling of the path, and I suspect the beastly dog, for the owner at one look did not appear the civil kind, yet, I have been wrong making such judgements.

A sport to thrill

Even as I have not decided how much further I want to go, I probably will go as far as this towpath will take me, my height is many times challenged by the low arches of bridged straddling the canal, I stoop or bow as I walk keeping an eye for some who care nothing for other users of this way.

Walking at speed, I pass another couple whilst resisting the urge to eavesdrop and then to my right over the canal is the Etihad Campus, with the football stadium of Manchester City Football Club and I recall when I could not persuade my best friend, a Manchester United fan to walk into that ‘abominable’ sanctum, though he might have had considered visiting for a local derby, I’ll ask.

Love in the park

One more bridge to duck and the windy path veers off the canal and I am presented with the entrance to Philips Park and I have not been here in years, many years at that. Two men have been ahead of me all the while, interesting from my perspective and something about them suggests more than meets the eye.

Into the park, they walk, down one of the more secluded routes that goes by the culverting of the River Medlock, the handiwork of brutal Victorians, that defines the boundary between the park and the cemetery. I am not following or trailing them, but I am just slightly behind them, then they touch and hug, I knew it all the while. They are getting more affectionate and honestly, why should I be shocked?

Just as I turn to cross over the River Medlock into the Philips Park Cemetery, they are now making their way back towards the park and in a moment of overwhelming passion, they embrace and kiss, that remains for a while or it is my persistence of vision deceiving me, for in that moment, I see love and think of love, then I wonder when Brian and I will walk about again, and give this spectacle to another narrator.

Walking through danger and on water

Unusual neighbourhoods

When I get home, I feel like I want to crash out after my walk and today, it was just 16.25 km in 2:42:41 hours at a faster pace than I have attempted before. I was back on the circuit of Peel Park and then to another, Albert Park before making it home.

The discovery process is one that intrigues because just over a month ago, the park was closed whilst the police searched for knives. It looked genteel enough with people of all ages at play, from children to the elderly, but what can you say about inner city places. [MEN: RECAP: Salford park closed as police search for knives]

Let’s go for a walk on water

Meanwhile, after work, I got a notification of a sermon preached by Steven Furtick of Elevation Church whose ministry I have followed for about 10 years. I do not particularly believe in coincidences, but to find that his text was the same as the one we heard in church yesterday could only mean I had another perspective to consider.

Blog - Can you abandon your experience for the extraordinary?

The title Water Walking 101 is worth another listening to for me, and the best I can do is share it, I hope you get something from it. What it affirms to me is we need to revisit these bible stories again, because unlike nature where seams of precious metal can be exhausted after mining, revelation and insight from the word of God is inexhaustible.

[]

I ran the tape measure around my midriff and an inch has gone. I guess I am seeing some results. I have an earlier pill time and by that an earlier bedtime too.

I won't be walking to Timbuktu yet

Once halfway, do the rest

I began my last blog to write about taking a Sunday rest from my walking exercises but by the time I had been to church, took the detour via the Starbuck’s café on Peter Street and made some calls as I watched the world go by at St. Peter’s Square and then returned home, I had already done 54% of my daily target of 10,000 steps.

Blog - Can you abandon your experience for the extraordinary?

Then, I had promised my neighbour that I would be attending our Sunday soiree which was to start at 6:30 PM. After a meal and nap, just before 4:00 PM, I was on Google maps looking for a park to walk to and I decided on Buile Hill Park which I have now learnt is the largest park in Manchester and the second oldest after Peel Park that I have visited a number of times.

Resting on improvements

It was just 5.3 kilometres away and would take about 67 minutes, I probably did it in less than that time. That was not a plan for rest, I don’t think. Unlike Alexandra Park, the circumference of the park is macadamised give a more such footing to my walk with undulating roads. I did not take time to explore the park as once I had hit 7 kilometres, I needed to return home.

Taking another route back, I had a natural emergency that left me in a rather embarrassing state for another 4 kilometres of walking home and for that walking exercise alone, I completed 14.76 kilometres and made a personal record pace of 8’46” for my 2^nd kilometre.

When I got home, I found I was only 200 steps short of the 25,131 steps I achieved on the 9^th of September 2018 and that must have been on a walk when I was on holiday in Gran Canaria. I could not miss the opportunity to beat that record today.

Measure for treasure

So, after the soiree, I set out again adding over 3,000 steps to bring my total to 28,322 steps and as the day is not yet over, there might be a few more steps, probably just around my apartment. In all, I am happy with the progress I am making, I am getting used to the long walks without much stress or pain. That all adds up to 23.03 kilometres today.

Most of my walking 92 minutes fell within Aerobic heart rate range and 48 minutes in the Anaerobic heart rate range, with 7 minutes going to the Extreme that I could avoid because that is when lactic acid builds up in my system and can cause injuries.

Whilst I can see my weight coming down, I think there is still a lot of work to do before it is close to where I want it and then, I have to keep it there.

Today's achievement

Breaking my steps record from September 2018

Let's go outdoors and meditate

A lonely place

After my post-work nap, I was up just 15 minutes before my allotted gym timeslot, but I was not keen. The gym is a sterile lonely place, mechanised for exertion to some bodily profit and nothing else, especially if you are alone there.

On the treadmill, you key in your weight, programme, duration, speed, age and it starts off racing you to the optimal heart rate whilst you find distraction in the timers and counters for time, calories, distance, watts and what not.

Even with the music playing in my ears, there is no quiet to meditate either in what you are hearing or the stillness that comes with appreciating nature. No, the gym is no fun without some company.

In natural beauty

However, I do like walking around the city, though I did not find useful information for walks around Manchester. Taking a different course, I walked to Platt Fields Park in Fallowfield, south of Manchester City. It has a pleasure lake with ducks, geese and swans. Walking around the lake is about 400 metres and I did that about 4 times before I charted another route home.

After 2 hours 15 minutes, I took a rest at St. Peter’s Square for some 20 minutes before returning home. A bit of thigh strain, I will recover by the morning. I think I will get a better and rewarding time walking out to parks, meditating, sometimes singing, chanting, or praying. It is more relaxing, and I am not waiting for the clock to countdown, to escape from the drudgery of unrefreshing solitude in an airless gym.

Pictures of Platt Fields Park pleasure lake.