Re: New to walking...

In message <M6qdneCGn92FDPHXnZ2dnUVZ8imdnZ2d@xxxxxx>, terrys <goodoldterry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
Paul do you have a GPS for walking? Is it anygood?

I learned navigation long before GPS existed, and I've never bothered to switch over to using a GPS. (What a GPS strikes me as useful for is recording where you took a photograph, or found a rare plant, or interesting rock outcropping - I'd often not know within a couple of hundred yards exactly where along a path I was.)

A GPS is good for telling you where you are. It's not so good for telling you where you want to go. For that you either need to be able to read a map, or rely on a guidebook.

Even reading a map doesn't always help. One day I decided to walk the length of Wenlock Edge. I was thinking that a limestone cuesta would be well drained, and would provide easy walking conditions. I was wrong - the ground was horribly muddy, and it turned out to be much harder than walking the Precambrian plateau of the Long Mynd.

All that aside, depending on where you are in Manchester, you might like to start off with a visit to the Goyt Valley. Depending on how gently you want to start off, you could just amble round the reservoirs. Other alternatives are Macclesfield Forest and Lyme Park. The High Peak, to the east of Manchester, is more challenging.

Within Manchester there are walks along river banks, canal towpaths, and old railway lines. The Irwell Sculpture Trail is long enough to be quite challenging, if attempted as a single wall.

Depending on a number of factors, including your navigation skills, it might be appropriate at some point for you to look for a suitable walking group (there should be plenty in Manchester).
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Stewart Robert Hinsley
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