Day 30 – half way?

Croston to Leigh. 24.51 miles, 553 ft of elevation, 34,222 steps.

Half way? 30 days done, 526.36 miles walked. It certainly feels like half way although judging by my estimated vs real mileage I may still be a little off. Hope not….

In part it feels like I have been walking for ever, at others that I have just started. Irrespective, I am looking forward to the next few weeks and to finally move away from flat, canal work

Today, after my 5 star breakfast (thank you Margaret), I began a day of transitioning from the Douglas river to the Leeds and Liverpool canal. It started with a disappointing but necessary back tracking along the river bank as the path simply disappear and ended with some other additional miles from poor decisions. I did a few miles across flat farm land before meeting Ian the poultry farmer who was having a break in his daily morning bike run and eating a satsuma.

We had a lovely chat (he was camera shy), and he impressed on me the importance of the red tractor sticker on all UK meat products. Jonathan, you would be proud of me, a full 10 minutes on Brexit.

Anyway, I had to push on as I had a lunch time meeting with Catherine (my sister), in Wigan and it was still miles away.

I eventually got to the canal at Parbold and immediately noticed the upgrade in canal. I thought maybe that it was built much later than the Lancaster canal but I was wrong. However, there was definite improvement in general aesthetics…..

clearly, this is probably the best canal in the world………

I put my foot down and got to Wigan only a few minutes late and with 14 miles done. Catherine, who is joining for the next week, came armed with soup, coffee and sandwiches. Marvellous, there will be an improvement in my performance this week.

The day was eventually a long 24 miles and again my feet were in bits from another day in the wet. I hope the boots dry out overnight

Tomorrow we walk to Warrington . Hopefully shorter, drier underfoot and with a special appearance from Ged Brannan all the way from New York!! Looking forward to a good day. Tomorrow evening the family arrive, Dickie joins for a day. Come on, it’s going to be a party…