Toddler pace

AR Walk 1: Stablebridge Road to Harebridge Lane (or nearly!) - 1 September 2014

My aim to complete the Aylesbury Ring walk (32 miles) started today with a gentle stroll along the Grand Union Canal Wendover Arm (disused) as I had Ginger Nut with me as well as Pip and the legs of a 2 3/4 year old are not very long! We started our 2km (1.2m) walk at the carpark near Stablebridge and walked west towards Halton. I had no idea how far Ginger Nut would cope with and was very aware that we had to walk back the same distance to get back to the car, but she coped fine with 1 mile.

 One of the aims of the walk is for me to 'get healthy' after the birth of Pip back in February - it's hard to get out and exercise with a toddler and a baby so I'm hoping that walking will be good exercise and enjoyable. The second aim is to have a purpose to my walks; it'll be nice to get to the end of the Ring and know that I've achieved it. And finally I want to collect all the geocaches on the route! Steve laughs at my 'geekiness' in collecting caches, but I enjoy it and it gets me out and about enjoying nature. On this walk we found AR12 Mandarin - By the Canal (GC4PZN) and AR15 Mandarin - Three's a crowd (GC4Q77).

It took us nearly two hours to walk the mile as we kept stopping to feed stones to the (non-existant) ducks, make dinner, admire leaves and sticks, look for fish etc. Ginger Nut enjoys being out whatever the weather and is doing more and more creative play out and about. In these photos she's cooking dinner! Pip slept most of the walk this time, but I'm sure as he gets older he'll start to appreciate being out as well. I'll also make sure I get a few photos of him too...

Autumn colours are starting to show and I'm looking forward to seeing the changes in the seasons as I get out each week. Autumn has to be my favourite season though; I love the smells and the colours. Each week I'll try and get one photo of 'the season' so I can look back over this blog and see the seasons change.

Conkers growing on a Horse Chestnut tree

Autumn colours

Walk Details
From: Stablebridge Road
To: Harebridge Road (just before)
Distance: 1.2m, 2km
Height Gain:
Route Description: Grand Union Canal Wendover Arm (disused) tow path
Duration: 2 hours
Ave Speed:
Region: Buckinghamshire
Walking With: Ginger Nut and Pip
Path: Aylesbury Ring

Map: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zbgVN-iW56BQ.kaNBoT9lLlXY