It was a glorious spring morning and GO and I had decided to walk to Hollingsworth Lake, well I'd decide he was grudgingly on board. I needed to break in my new boots before we tried any longer my intense walks. How difficult could it be to walk to the lake, it's only about ten minutes in the car?
As we joined the canal it was pretty peaceful, we walked past the Marina where all of the narrow boats were moored by the folks who live in there boats permanently. I was blown over by how serene it was, we passed the occasional fellow walkers I smiled and said "Hello". Some would reply, most just looked away, uncomfortably.
As we reached the first of many bridges/tunnels checked my watch, it had taken us nearly an hour to do less than half a mile. When I mentioned this to GO he rolled his eyes and said "that's what happens when you keep stopping to take photos all of the time." This is a conversation we've had many times. I have explained till I'm in blue in the face that while I have a great memory, most of the time, I often need a story of picture to jog my memory.
As we crossed over to the other side of the canal (I chickened out and took the long way round rather than walk over the lock), we left the buzz of the town behind us and we soon confronted by a huge sixty foot wall that ran up the other side, it's purpose is obviously to stop the hill, train tracks and Dobroyd Castle from falling into the canal. It was an imposing sight and one that dominated the walk for a good half a mile or so. It was at this point that the geese and ducks that had been present for most of our walk started to get less timid and more assertive. Reminding us that they had as much right to be in the canal as we had to walk past. They put on shows of aggression towards each other, quacking loudly and swimming towards the bank at speed before swiftly turning away (the goose equivalent of boy racers I presume) leaving waves rippling in their wake. I will admit it was intimidated and began to push GO forward.
I nearly wet myself when a goose swam towards the banks, and then at the last minute propelled itself forward onto land. It began waddling around menacingly making sure that all and sundry knew who the boss was. I refused to walk further until GO had shooed it away. He was too busy laughing (or pretending to laugh as really he was just a scared as me) when from out of nowhere came a flash of black fur and barks, it was Super-dog. He bounded around the path, distributing the geese and making an almighty racket. Within seconds the Goose-father and his posse were back in the water and making a hasty exit back the way they had come. The dog, not realising how much I loved it now, continued to bounce around. His owner came rushing up the path calling his name and berating it for scaring the geese and us too. "Oh not to worry, he is my hero!" I smiled. I turned to give GO a look that said at least someone saved me. With which he said "You were just saved by a three legged dog from a goose!" It was then that I took a closer look at my canine hero, he did indeed only have three legs. "Well you have two legs and you didn't save me!"
We carried on walking past the 22nd, 23rd, 24th lock. The scenery became less industrial and more rural, I was convinced we had to be nearly there. "We haven't even made it to Gordon Riggs yet!" I was dying inside, my foot felt like it was being rubbed away by my sock, I also hadn't worn the correct sock with the new bots, I was on the path the blister central. I mentioned this to GO, so that he knew I would walk without whinging even in pain. He wasn't bothered. We decided to pause at a large body of water, that looked like a canal bypass and have some tea and biscuits. I straddled a wall, it was lovely to let my feet just dangled for a while.
I made two Chai Latte's (well we're not philistines) and we were just chatting about future plans (summer holidays coming up quickly) when a lady ran past all pink and blue spandex. She stopped and actually reversed. "Oh wow, I had seen o Facebook you were back up here, it's so lovely to see you again. How are you?" GO started chatting to the lady, this was becoming a daily part of our lives. GO would meet with someone he knew and I would stand/sit smiling until I was introduced. Only this lady was looking at me like she knew me. Facebook I decided, everyone saw me on his Facebook page and assumed they knew me. Then she said "We were playing at a wedding a few weeks ago and it made me think yours was around this time wasn't it?" I smiled, nodded and said "Yes, our anniversary was just last week." Stalker! GO and the lady said we should meet up and have a good old catch up when it dawned on me. It was the cellist form our wedding that GO had gone to school with. Now that I was all caught up (like I said I need a story to help me remember things) I quickly joined in the conversation agreeing that it would be lovely to all meet up and they should come over to ours one evening. We said our goodbyes and carried on our journeys.
As the fields on either side became hills and we were walking through the valley, GO began discussing the difference between barges and narrow boats. I confessed that my knowledge of the subject came mainly from chick lit novels and so I couldn't give definitive answer. I said that Baby-Bro and Sin-law wanted to hire one for us all to use one summer, GO didn't sound convinced, I decided to leave the subject and bring it up again another day. We noticed a barge/narrow boat making it's way through a lock. I persuaded him to stop and watch how it was done. more for my aching feet than anything else.
