There was a slight something in the air that heralded the end of summer. A slight nip in the wind and a sharp tang that said “yup, autumn is about to start and winter won’t be too far behind”.
That said, it’s still a glorious morning and is only ever so slightly marred by the fact the riverside walk is only partially open, forcing me to backtrack and take a slightly different route in to work. It is Monday after all. Plus I’ve done my good deed for the day and spared others the long detour by warning them as I met them.
I wonder what other joys Monday will bring.
Regular readers will remember that earlier this year they part of the riverside walk near work. This closure ended up being for 3 weeks which caused me much confusion in the mornings1 and necessitated a less aesthetically pleasing route too and from work. I had rather hoped I’d be able to reap the benefits of the newly refurbished section throughout the summer months, but I have discovered this is not to be the case.
On Wednesday large metal temporary fencing sections and their bases appeared by the carpark adjacent to the newly refurbished section. Yesterday some of these were erected and signs were put up.
Now, with the last closure, the only signs were on the fence stopping you from progressing and basically said “Welcome to the closed bit. It’s closed. For three weeks.”. Now we have signs at the entrance to the path well before the bit they’re closing and signs on the bit that is about to be closed. These are big, hard to miss signs. They give details of where, when, why and how long.
The where has already been established, it’s the section next to the one they’ve just done up. The when is Monday, meaning I have today to try a new alternative route that could involve more river walking than my old alternative route without having to worry about back tracking. The why is for a new footbridge over the river, which could actually prove useful AA I currently have to walk past work a little bit, cross on the bridge, and then head back. The irony being that if I use the new bridge I’ll be cutting out the refurbished section entirely, so I’ll never get to enjoy it over a summer. The how long is 25 weeks. Yup, all summer. Hence me wanting a route with as much riverside walking as possible. Still, 25 weeks is long enough to reprogram the morning autopilot to whatever the new route ends up being.
1I’m not at my best in the morning.
I’m not sure if it was the fact it had just rained but yesterday’s walk home seemed to involve a multitude of bugs flying at what can only be described as mouth height. For someone who naturally marches to the station at high speed with their mouth open to facilitate breathing this makes life very awkward. Hopefully it’s just some sort of short lived spawning event otherwise I may need to invest in some kind of bug mask. Either that or get used to the taste of bug.
They’ve closed part of the riverside walk I use to get in to work. I’m assuming it’s for some kind of planned maintenance given there is a sign saying the footpath will be closed for five days. Admittedly the sign does say it’s closed from the 28th of Feb, a week when I was off so I don’t know if it’s late or a second round of works. Anyway, there is a detour which isn’t too far out of my way, which is s good thing really as every morning I forget to go an alternative route.
Placid though “Riverside walk” may sound my daily commute is fraught with peril and obstacles. If it’s not Killer bees, renegade cyclists or loose canines who are patently not on leads (despite the signs) it’s the trees. Use of the start (or end, depending which way you’re going) of the walk involves navigation round some rather lovely, rather low hanging branches. Not so lovely when it’s wet, the grass is muddy and walking through or under the branches is asking for a drenching. Of course today it’s dry and the council seem to have tidied up the path during the day, including trimming the trees somewhat, making the problem much less pronounced than it was when I saw them this morning. Bloody typical 
You must be at lease this short to use this path
With thanks to the random lady who has no idea the person behind was surreptitiously photographing her ducking in order to get an idea of scale
