Saturday - Stone (and a little way beyond)

Distance: 33.8 km (21 mi)
Time: 6 hours 32 (including the time taken to eat the sandwiches)
Average speed: 5.17 km/h (3.21 mph)

This was the first of the 20 mile training walks, so I opted for a flat walk along the Trent & Mersey canal. To get to the canal I walked along the road to Sandon, passing some examples of the rare Staffordshire Llama.

Three llamas

After the blue skies of the last week or so, yesterday was completely clouded over, but at least there wasn't any of the threatened rain. A bit less wind would have been nice.

At Sandon I joined the Trent & Mersey heading west towards Stone. At Aston Lock just south of Stone I finally noticed that the mile post reads 46 miles to either end of the canal, making it the centre.

Coming up into Stone itself I and a couple of other people spotted a river creature narrowly avoiding being run over by a barge. It seemed to be trying to get up onto the western bank (the Trent side), but failing. That it was the side that the humans were walking along wasn't helping either. One of the other people there reckoned it was an immature otter. It certainly looked otter-like but I didn't think they were black.

An otter?

After that excitement it was just a steady plod along the canal through Stone and beyond to my destination: bridge 102 at the edge of Barlaston. There I had my sandwiches and a banana before turning around and heading back.

This time there was not sign of the (probable) otter, so I guess it got where it was going to.

At Aston I left the canal for a bit of variety. Unfortunately this involved walking along the path beside the A34. I did think of taking the Enson road, but I stuck on the main road until I reached Yarlet. There I did have enough willpower to avoid the pub and head off down towards Marston. That I also regretted 15 minutes later when I drank the last of my water. Still it was on the final stretch.

So that was the first 20 mile walk of the year. It left me stiff, but with no new blisters. I used a new pair of walking shoes, as opposed to my boots, so I think that I'll be using those for the K2B itself. I feel fine this morning, but I think I need to step up the training.