W’all walk the Wonder Wall

Today was the first of the weekend's GoodGym X Slow Ways collaborations. Slow Ways is a national initiative to create a network of walking routes connecting all of Great Britain's towns and cities as well as thousands of villages. It relies on volunteers to verify the routes, looking out for highlights and hazards.

My first highlight was to finally drag Garry along to his first GoodGym task, about three years after persuading him to sign up! It was great to have you along Garry! The second highlight was that despite a pretty grim forecast, the weather stayed dry!

As far as the walk itself goes, it's a very straightforward route. Early GoodGymers will recall many a fun (ahem!) Monday evening running uphill through the motorbike shops of Westgate Road! After starting at the architecturally impressive Central Station, passing the less architecturally impressive tower blocks of Westgate Road, and the Westgate Baptist Church (meeting point for several leaflet delivery tasks) we reached the top of the hill. I spotted the rather bucolic scene of a cricket match taking place, then came the highlights of the walk. Two sections of Hadrian's Wall! One was a "Vallum Crossing" in the middle of a residential street just off the main road, the other a small section of wall beside a rundown KwikFit garage (quite a juxtaposition!) with a sign declaring Wonder Wall! The end of the walk at Denton Burn Library was just a few meters further along the road. Having successfully navigated the walk and dodged the rain we decided to treat ourselves to coffees and pastries from a bakery we had been wanting to try for a while - a bit more of a walk but well worth it!

All in all, we liked the wall, we walked the walk and ate the cake! Hope to see you at another GoodGym task soon Garry!

There's an Urban Green task at Kenton Park with Liz tomorrow and another Slow Ways walk with Tanya on Sunday. Happy weekend everyone!