Fishing has slowly become something I used to to in a previous existence - pre child - but like swimming or riding a bike its something that can always be put down and picked back up again when the time suits.
I've been doing a lot of walking recently, pushing little Tommy around various fishing venues wistfully wondering about wetting a line, and noting some likely looking spots. When I say I've been doing a lot of walking - I really mean A LOT.
Hardly a lake, towpath, river bank hasn't been covered over the last 18 months in his pushchair - which now has more miles on the clock than a 10 year old taxi.
The battered state of my youngest childs transport hasnt gone un noticed by my families operations director - so a new all singing all dancing go anywhere all terrain vehicle has been purchased.
Look at the gleaming chrome on the wheels here - this won't last long with the sort of places we like to go walking
We have decided to walk the Cheshire Ring. Starting off at Kidsgrove we decided to walk towards Congleton (about 6 miles) where we could take the train back to the car which was parked in Kidsgrove town center.
All good walks should start and finish at a pub - we chose the Canal Tavern in Kidsgrove.
A lovely early spring day, a bag of bread for the ducks, and a bag of jelly babies for the adults.
There are mile posts along the canal towpath, and after a while we realised that we manage a steady 2 miles an hour.
There was lots of bankside activity, birds building nests, and judging by the freshly dug earth and the pungent aroma a set of fox holes on the far bank.
Lots of lovely rolling Cheshire countryside, early flowers and budding trees
As we approached Congleton we managed to pick up a thorn in one of the tyres - first day out, first puncture. It made pushing the pram awkward as it made it veer to the left all the time. Then amazingly we picked up another thorn in the same flat tyre. The canal and rivers trust had been trimming the hedgerows and the towpath was covered in hawthorn twigs.
No wonder we didnt see many cyclists !
Next to Congleton station we found a corner shop for some sugary snacks and also a DIY store which sold some tyre repair stuff.
A complete waste of £3.99
So despite it being still early - we decided to call it a day.
The trains run once an hour back to Kidsgrove - the train pulled in about 2 minutes after we read the timetable and sat down on the platform. Great timing.
It took 7 minutes on the train to cover the distance we had walked in 3 hours.
Next up will be Congleton to Macclesfield - about 12 miles.
Here is an obligatory picture of the Canal - we only saw one fisherman all day - he was blanking.
