Saturday 25 July 2009

Someries Revisited

Today I fancied a return to the area between Someries Castle and Airport Way (previously visited on 21st June) to see if I could find a better route. Headed north along the Lea Valley Walk which bit-by-bit, week-by-week, gets better and better. This week I even managed to get through the section behind East Hyde sewage works without getting stung by nettles - something unimaginable but a few weeks ago. With the wind against me I was happy to take it easy and pump out the miles at 8:05 pace.

At Airport Way had no problem finding the steps leading to the path back to the Someries. Unfortunately once at the top and through the kissing gate I was faced with a field of very prickly looking crop (so much for not getting stung earlier) and little evidence of a footpath. In retrospect, looking at the map, I should have stayed close to perimeter fence. However, at the time the path didn't look too promising so I cut over to the field. Anyway suffice to say what followed wasn't very enjoyable, with some pain, much walking, and a mile times of 10:42! Once at the castle (or should I say what's left of it) it was a straightforward on-road gallop home. With the wind (and the aircraft noise) now behind me the return leg pace averaged a more respectable 7:30 min/mile.

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