OK, so it wasn't quite two rivers (one and a bit, if you count the couple of hundred metres or so I walked alongside the Avon on my way home), but how many people can say they've walked the length of the Heathcote River from Spreydon to the Estuary? It actually ended up at just over 30km, which was about what I wanted to do anyway.In another change to the original plan, I had lunch at my sister's house in Opawa (hence the blip at around the 13km mark) instead of at Ferrymead. Stephanie had invited me for a cup of tea, but by the time I got there it was practically lunchtime, plus she'd just taken a batch of date scones out of the oven, and once I started I just couldn't stop eating them. I stayed for about half an hour then pushed on to Ferrymead. I had another break there for a coffee then turned around and headed home via town. With about 2km to go I stopped in at the supermarket at Barrington's to get something for dinner, and by chance bumped into Keiko (who'd accompanied me for the first hour or so of the walk) and ended up riding the rest of the way home in the car.
The verdict? Walking 20km is relatively easy. After that the body starts to tire and the legs start to ache. Hopefully all this training will pay off and by the time I get to Japan I won't tire as quickly and will recover more rapidly.
Distance walked today: 31.5km
Total distance walked since blog began: 353.9km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 85
4 comments:
Wow,
That's quite well done, the Heathcote's got some rather nice (and a few not so nice) features
K.
Yeah, that Walk Christchurch book I mentioned the other day suggests walking the Woolston section of the river on a Sunday when the factories are closed to avoid the famous industrial "smell." But I imagine it must have been a lot worse when they pumped waste directly into the Heathcote.
Time for you to do a little altitude training, Matthew. Pop by my place next week and you can have all the yak butter tea you like. That will cure the tired legs. All the chillis you can eat too. Can you plot Bhutan on that walk plotter?
Brother Mark
Yeah, it used to be a lot worse. I lived on clarendon tce during the '70s I can remember seeing cars and all sorts of rubbish in the river. They've also done a lot of planting of native trees in the meantime, I walked around there a couple of years back, it didn't look like the same place I grew up in.
K.
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