"Return To Meadowlily" or "There Will Be Blood"

   I am almost too tired to blog. So I think I might go and have a nap and come back in a bit, okay?

   Okay, so it's now a little over two hours later, I slept a bit, made a coffee, did a couple of crosswords, filled out a work form and now I'm back to the blog. Lucky you!

 

   A few weeks ago, I ran the trails in Meadowlily Woods and found an intriguing trail that I didn't have time to fully explore so today I thought I would go back there and give it another go.
   It was actually hovering in between 9 and 11C and this meant I could actually get away with shorts and one less layer on top...hooray! I might have regretted the shorts a little later but I'll get to that in a bit.

Once again, downed trees
make things difficult!

   It rained quite a lot yesterday so once again I found myself dealing with the odd muddy patch, no big deal. One of the worst things about Meadowlily is that there are four or five streams you need to ford (hop across) and a couple of those streams are at the bottom of very steep ravines. I imagine that in the middle of summer the ravines are not a major problem (it is trail-running) but when they are coated with mud and almost straight down, the getting up and down is actually quite treacherous.
   I quickly got to the spot where I had turned around in my previous visit and then just kept on running. My thought was that the trail would take me right out of Meadowlily and then along the Thames but I eventually came to another large ravine and the trail I was on seemed to simply circle back. This was not my plan.
   I scouted the ravine, looking for the best place to get down, and then finally managed to make it back up to the other side. There, I found no clear trail to follow, marked or otherwise. I did find myself in the middle of a large, cleared area, that had remnants of fencing around it. Not quite sure what used to be there but I was still looking for running paths so I ventured out of it and then down toward the Thames river. 

The large, open area. Remnants
of fence were here and there
so it was used for something
at one time.

   I then found myself walking along the river bank. It was the part of the bank which is underwater whenever the river is at its highest. It's actually quite eerily beautiful there, many large, moss-covered trees and the flow of the water that used to be there has the grassy undergrowth matted and lying parallel to the river bank. You also get quite a collection of human junk which has been swept there from upstream.

I Am A Trail-Runner!

   I eventually figured out that I would not be running along the river bank and so I made my way back through the thickets, back to the open area and then back into the forest. Hiking through the underbrush did quite a number on my legs and little bits of me cursed not wearing long pants but this was at least temporary.
   Along the way, I found myself a semi-sturdy stick to assist me with the ravine crossings and made a mental note that, if I go back there sometime, I will need another.

A whole section of riverbank was
festooned with snail shells

   I had hoped I would find another trail along the river and, if I'd been able to find one, my plan was to get 11K done. My trail-running distance goals have been thwarted with some regularity the last few outings so I only managed about 7K today. I still need to find a way to get the miles in without constantly running back and forth on the same trail. Part of the problem is that I insist on "exploring" and this generally gets me into places and situations I really don't want to be in---following deer trails, crawling through thickets, etc. I need to learn to STAY ON THE TRAIL. At least, for the most part...