Muddy Feet

Today, I went from Manchester on to the University of Warwick to the NODA Summer School. Before leaving Manchester, however, I went for a run.

I had planned to go round the two Gorton reservoirs -Gorton Upper reservoir and Gorton Lower reservoir.

The first part, round half of the Lower reservoir, was okay. Then I got to the Upper reservoir. The path was virtually non-existent. Where it was visible, it had huge, rather muddy puddles - and when I ran through them, I got somewhat muddy myself.

So I gave up and turned back, this time doing the other half of the lower reservoir. It wasn't muddy. But it did have shoulder-high stinging nettles.

From this I learned that running on such a path in a vest and very-short shorts is not a good idea.

I made another lap of the lower reservoir (leaving the path to go through the park rather than face the nettles again) before going back to my hotel and getting showered ready for the trip to Warwick.

This isn't the place for a detailed diary entry about that, but suffice to say the arrival was wonderfully warm and welcoming, and the facilities great. There will be much more about it in the coming week...