Walking home for Christmas (London to Manchester)

[Marc]

On 15/12/2017 at 22:46, NickF said:

 

 

2 hours ago, cuthound said:

You must have walked past me yesterday.

Despite looking out for you I must have missed you.

Hope you feel better today and have a speedy completion to your journey.

Sorry to have missed you cuthound! 

I've just left the Dog and Doublett (a separate post about these lovely people to come) and have passed the Sandon Lock. Aiming for 15 miles today, anything more a bonus. 

[NB Lola]

18 hours ago, Barbara Maxwell said:

Jesus works in mysterious ways. 

I am Jesus, so is my wife.  You have been rumbled!

[Machpoint005]

Marc, as one of those who thought yours was a stupid idea (based on the likely need for emergency services to somebody I perceived as unprepared) I am hereby retracting my comments and eating my words with a large portion of humble pie (cheaper in Manchester than in 'that London').

Keep going, I'm sure you will be enjoying a pint in Britain's First City by Saturday! 

[Peter X]

19 hours ago, Barbara Maxwell said:

Jesus works in mysterious ways. 

He seems to be a multi skilled tradesman indeed. First a carpenter and now he does the black stuff filling in holes. I suppose anyone in the building trade would learn a lot in 2000 years.

58 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

Marc, as one of those who thought yours was a stupid idea (based on the likely need for emergency services to somebody I perceived as unprepared) I am hereby retracting my comments and eating my words with a large portion of humble pie (cheaper in Manchester than in 'that London').

Keep going, I'm sure you will be enjoying a pint in Britain's First City by Saturday! 

Totally off topic, but I think Colchester has the best claim to that title.

[Peter X]

Having dined out on pies fairly often in both London and on my travels around the canals, I can indeed confirm that they get cheaper as you go away from London and particularly to the north. 

[cuthound]

Back in the early 90's, we took our first shareboat from the Midlands to London and found the price of a pint increased by10p every night we stopped. 

When we moved from Surrey to Staffordshire, I found everything to be so much cheaper and the pace of life much slooowwerr. 

 

[Athy]

7 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Back in the early 90's, we took our first shareboat from the Midlands to London and found the price of a pint increased by10p every night we stopped. 

 

 

That'll be why you travel so fast when you're heading South then, so that you need to stop fewer nights?

[Machpoint005]

4 hours ago, Peter X said:

I think Colchester has the best claim to that title.

No, sorry, Colchester is proudly England's First Town, but definitely not a city. I'm an adoptive Manc but a native Colcestrian!

2 hours ago, Athy said:

That'll be why you travel so fast when you're heading South then, so that you need to stop fewer nights?

That would mean more nights at the top price! I can tell you didn't teach mathematics!

[Athy]

8 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

That would mean more nights at the top price! I can tell you didn't teach mathematics!

You make a good point, with which I'm not sure if I agree or not. I can see that you'd get to the more expensive zone sooner, but on the other hand you'd go in fewer pubs.

[Peter X]

11 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

No, sorry, Colchester is proudly England's First Town, but definitely not a city. I'm an adoptive Manc but a native Colcestrian!

That would mean more nights at the top price! I can tell you didn't teach mathematics!

I didn't teach mathematics but I got a degree in it, and I think Athy's right, unless having got to London early you then stay there for the remainder of the time originally allotted to the trip.

[Marc]

<Day 7    Day 8

The friendliness theme introduced on Day 6 and yesterday, continued this morning at the stand out Dog and Doublet in Sandon where the staff reached into their tip jar to offer a charity donation for this 230 mile canal walk. I was still too whacked from man flu to think enough to ask for a photo or the staff names, I'm sorry. 

On which point, just another little day - 14 Canal Miles. I'm feeling much closer to 100% though.

Multiple people stopped to talk on the towpath today. This North-South thing really is a phenomenon. They say it's grim up north, but perhaps up north it's grim "down south" - I saw this advert in Stoke, for a product I have *never* seen advertised in London:

I have a choice tomorrow:

1. Head NW up the Trent and Mersey Canal 24 miles to get to my mum's new house and finish
2. Head NE up the Macclesfield Canal which would be a 48 mile distance from here into Manchester, the original intention of this post. 

What would you do? Louise has challenged me to beat her train into Piccadilly (Saturday, 13:04) and Rob it seems has tried to get the Manchester Evening News involved. Only if it's a slow news day...

 

Is this the highest Christmas tree in the UK?

Thank you today to Andrew for his donation, as well as the Dog and Doublet staff. You can support Crisis here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/marc-gawley 

@Machpoint005 thank you for your warm words. It's not too late for your prophecy to come true though

Updated Stats:

Day 1: 5,909 calories; 65,139 steps; 27 canal miles

Day 2: 5,145 calories; 53,380 steps; 20 canal miles

Day 3: 5,606 calories; 55,676 steps; 29 canal miles

Day 4: 5,178 calories; 52,165 steps; 28 canal miles

Day 5: 5,194 calories; 54,841 steps; 24 canal miles

Day 6: 5,034 calories; 51,551 steps; 25 canal miles

Day 7: 4,072 calories; 34,523 steps; 12 canal miles

Day 8: 4,403 calories; 32,797 steps; 14 canal miles

 

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2017 by Marc

[Rob-M]

Take the trip in to Manchester, if you don't you might regret not completing the original journey and you wouldn't want Barbara setting the good Lord on you.

[NB Lola]

Havens above (get it?)

[thebfg]

1 hour ago, Rob-M said:

Take the trip in to Manchester, if you don't you might regret not completing the original journey and you wouldn't want Barbara setting the good Lord on you.

This. Plus one.

 

The satisfaction  you will have sat at Piccadilly when she gets off the train will last a lifetime.

[NickF]

When you get to the junction with the Mac remember to turn left to get onto the Mac which is not quite what you would expect! Have a great walk tomorrow.  Go for Manchester I reckon ........... but I am not really in a position to have an opinion when I could come nowhere lose to achieving what you have done! 

[Machpoint005]

16 hours ago, Peter X said:

unless having got to London early you then stay there for the remainder of the time originally allotted to the trip.

I agree, but he didn't say he would be returning early!

10 hours ago, NickF said:

When you get to the junction with the Macc remember to turn left to get onto the Macc which is not quite what you would expect! Have a great walk tomorrow.  Go for Manchester I reckon ........... but I am not really in a position to have an opinion when I could come nowhere lose to achieving what you have done! 

No need - just go up the steps instead of walking the half-mile towpath loop!

16 hours ago, Athy said:

on the other hand you'd go in fewer pubs.

You didn't include that important qualifier though. I read the question, and not what wasn't in the question!

[NickF]

6 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

No need - just go up the steps instead of walking the half-mile towpath loop!

I did wonder whether there were steps up to Pool Lock Aqueduct from the T and M but couldn't remember. 

[Machpoint005]

2 minutes ago, NickF said:

I did wonder whether there were steps up to Pool Lock Aqueduct from the T and M but couldn't remember. 

Yes, there are - on both sides, IIRC -- I used them to walk from Red Bull Services to Kidsgrove Station this summer. It was a far shorter walk than I was expecting! 

[JonathonGleeson]

[Barbara Maxwell]

39 minutes ago, JonathonGleeson said:

Is this Marc? Jesus help us all 

[Señor Chris]

5 hours ago, Barbara Maxwell said:

Is this Marc? Jesus help us all 

Be a massive hit on Grnder dressed like that.

[JonathonGleeson]

11 minutes ago, Señor Chris said:

Be a massive hit on Grnder dressed like that.

Found it on grinder near Macclesfield right now. At least he's done his stretches....

[Barbara Maxwell]

On 20/12/2017 at 22:23, Marc said:

Yes, very impressive NB Lola!

Of course, feel free to moderate as you see fit, but for me personally don't be concerned: it's a fun game trying to guess who is who by the persona they are adopting (e.g., I put a tenner on Barbara being my atheist scientist sister).

 

Your sister, whilst clearly lost and in need of our Lord Jesus Christ, is obviously an extremely intelligent lady. I'll pray for her. 

[Marc]

On 12/20/2017 at 22:22, Barbara Maxwell said:

Marc, don't be rude to Gavin. I know him, he has passed through my lock many a time and is a good fellow. 

He doesn't like to go into this too much, but he is one legged. Being too poor to afford a decent prosthesis and the NHS being the way it is, he did it with a peg leg

I take back my rude words on Gavin, I didn't realise he was disabled. This would explain why everyone says he's good at skiing when he clearly isn't.

[Barbara Maxwell]

9 minutes ago, Marc said:

I take back my rude words on Gavin, I didn't realise he was disabled. This would explain why everyone says he's good at skiing when he clearly isn't.

Don't be rude about his skiing please. It means a lot to him that he finally got down a green without falling last year.