Canal Walks

Something that I was oh so familiar with in Canada was walking. I grew up walking. I walked to school, to the library, to the store, to friends' houses, to work, you name it. Here walking is less popular. It is generally thought of as a nice way to pass a sunny afternoon. Which, yes does happen in Canada as an activity as well - I just never really considered it as a regular thing to do (outside of a very small social circle that I had).

Although walking is less popular here (although perhaps popular isn't the correct way to describe, people don't walk to travel here they drive, train or bus for travel) I think that maybe is should be considered one of the important pass times in England. I have been more than one place in the country in the last two years and many of these places have been very popular with walkers. I've been to the moors and met more than one hiker and dog walker. I've been to Scotland and met many a tourist and slightly off-hinged person (such as myself and my hiking partner) who felt it entirely necessary to climb Arthur's Seat. I have been to little Yorkshire villages where people walk around the roads in the countryside. I have also been to some very nice towns that have walking trails that lead out of town and you can follow over several days all the way up to the Lake District!

So my question is: why is it when someone asks what the English do for fun that all you hear about is football, gardening and going to the pub? Clearly, there is a large walking community here in this country, for why else would there be so many popular and well-cultivated trails?

In fact, the other weekend when the weather was exquisite and I couldn't decide what to do, someone suggested that I walk along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. At first I thought that they were crazy. I wondered why anyone would want to walk along a canal.

What I saw in my head when someone said canal.

But I agreed to it since it was a nice day and I didn't really want to be inside. Let me tell you, it was a good thing that I did. The image that I had in my head was far from what I actually experienced.

My walking companion and I set off from a part of Leeds called Rodley. It's a quaint-looking area village area that is very lush and well-cultivated. We stopped for a quick ice cream to help cool us as we walked seeing as it was one of the warmer weekends that we've had here so far. With the sun shining, I was rapidly missing my hat but fortunately I remembered to put on sunscreen before setting off so I didn't end up roasted.

As we walked along the canal, we encountered many other walkers. There were families walking their dogs, young people that looked like they might be on dates and teenagers out with friends. We also saw several older, fit-looking couples that looked like their walked for a living. They motored along in their activewear and look as happy as anything. For the amount of people that we saw along our Sunday walk, I really think that walking should be considered a more important pastime here.

That being said, it wasn't excessively crowded. There weren't enough people to be able to compare the amount to the people that you would expect to see in town shopping on a weekend. That in itself is both a shame, but also a comfort as I hate to walk along somewhere and feel like I can't have my own personal space in which to enough to quiet sounds of outside and the serene views. Here are some of the pleasant views that I enjoyed that weekend:

I had such a pleasant time, and it cost pretty much nothing (picnic plus ice cream made it very cheap) that I can't wait to go for another lovely canal walk. There are so many different sections of the canal that I imagine I can do several canal walks before I get bored. So next time I tell myself that I want to spend a sunny day sitting on the sofa inside, I need to remind myself how lovely a walk there is not far away and go!