I continued along the road to recovery by taking the dogs out for a couple of miles before work.
Sue had agreed on a visit to the pub tonight so I had to arrange the afternoon around this and the need to let the dogs out.
Sue was at work all day (as was I) and was planning on driving out to The Griffin directly from work. With the dogs shut in the house all day, I had to call home and then walk from there once the dogs had done their business.
During the day, I had been looking at some maps showing footpath diversions due to HS2. There used to be a path (M54) from near my house, through what is called The Belt on the maps, to Gilson which has been non-existent lately.
However, the HS2 site shows a temporary diversion valid from March 2023 until December 2025. I thought that I’d give it a try.
The weather forecast was for rain so I dressed what I thought was appropriately and added a dry top to my pack to change into at journey’s end.
I left home around four and made my way out to the start of footpath M54.
The path winds it’s way through tress before taking another diversion (shown as Existing Footpath) on the map above. This track is quite muddy and, with the promised rain now falling, rather slippery which brought the average pace down.
When I got to the blue diversion, there was a path but it was blocked by a section of fencing. This was bypassed and a track followed following the blue line.
After a while this path crossed a haul road in the HS2 compound but led nowhere on the other side so I had to follow the haul road to get to the road leading to Gilson.
Although I was obviously not an HS2 employee (no hi-vis) a couple of cars passed me without enquiry and I was soon crossing the M42 and heading for Gilson.
From Gilson, I made my way to Coleshill Parkway walking through a small housing estate and a larger industrial one. The rain had got slightly heavier.
From Coleshill Parkway, I followed the familiar path, initially along the Tame before crossing it and the Blythe to take a path across a soggy field to Whitacre.
I had about half a mile of tarmac before going off-road, following the Nuneaton railway line. By this time I was well and truly wet but more importantly, warm.
This final couple of miles were muddy and increasingly slippery so weren’t particularly brisk.
Just under two hours from leaving home in the dry, I arrived at The Griffin soaking wet. I took off my gloves and wrung them out before going inside and heading for the toilet to change. My fleece was dripping so I think, perhaps, it’s time for a light-weight rain jacket.
As I finished wrestling a dry top over a wet torso, Sue phoned to let me know that she had arrived. I stuffed my wet gear into a bag and entered the bar.
Although rather damp, it wasn’t a bad walk of 7.25 miles bringing the daily total to 9.29 miles.
